Abstract
The paper relates that Blaise Pascal is the rare case of a mathematician equally famous for his religious devotion and contributions to theology as he is for his work with numbers. The paper looks at Pascal's notable discoveries in geometry, his work in probability that formed the foundation of today's economic study of game theory, his prototype of the modern digital, scientific calculator and his law of pressure.

Outline:
The Life of Pascal
Major Discovery
How Pascal's Discoveries are Used Today

From the Paper
"Despite the modernity, even humor, inherent in such moral calculations, Pascal was largely a man of his time, and a devout Christian. Blaise Pascal was born during the 17th century at Clermont on June 19, 1623, and died in Paris on August 19, 1662. Although the Frenchman's early education was confined to modern languages, when his father noted that the boy had unusual mathematical aptitude in geometry (Pascal intuited as a child why the sum of the angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles), his father gave his son a copy of Euclid's Elements. It would not be an understatement to call the young Pascal a prodigy. At the age of fourteen Pascal was admitted to the weekly meetings of French geometricians, at sixteen he wrote an essay on conic sections and at the age of eighteen, he constructed the first arithmetical machine, a kind of prototypical adding machine or calculator (Ball 1908)."

Tags:Jansenism, religion, geometry, probability, calculator, law, of, pressure

Abstract
This paper examines the life history of Blaise Pascal, born in France in 1662 and who died at the age of 39 from stomach cancer. The paper examines some of the great contributions made by Pacale to the maths field, including the first mathematical device, the creation of "Pascale's Triangle" and his theory of probability and causes.

Paper Outline:
A Genius is Born
Pascal's Education
Acceptance by the Mathematical Community
The Development of the Adding Machine and Other Experiments
Pascal's Triangle
Conclusion
Bibliography

From the Paper
"When he turned fourteen, Pascal began to accompany his father to weekly geometrical discussions with what would later become the French Academy. The geometricians at these meetings included Roberval, Mersenne, Mydorge, Carcavi, Auzout, Mylon, Desargues and other's. The meetings were held at the home of Mersenne. Mersenne was a member of a religious order called the Minims. This is important, because later in his life Pascal would abandon math to study religion for several years."

Tags:Descartes, Euclid's, Elements, Desargues, Pascaline

Abstract
This paper discusses how Pascal's study of mathematics and geometry helped lead to the invention of hydraulics, resulting in such modern innovations as the hydraulic press and medical syringe. The author explores Pascal's discoveries on probability, which resulted in gambling methodology and laid the foundation for statistics and insurance analysis. The author concludes that Pascal's growing religious convictions, later in his short life, included an attempt to strengthen traditional faith by applying the rational thought of modern science.

Abstract
This paper explains that the mathematical formula known as "Pascal's Triangle" was simultaneously discovered centuries before Pascal by the Chinese and the Persians; it was even mentioned by Omar Khayyam centuries before Pascal. Pascal, however, one of the world's most famous mathematicians, was the first "modern" mathematician to realize the true potential of the formula and apply it. The author points out that Pascal's Triangle contributed to the understanding of probabilities, which led to the development of "average gain" or "probable gain" formulas that are still used extensively in business and industry. The paper relates that there is one problem with Pascal's formula: as the numbers increase, the triangle takes much longer to solve, and the formula becomes ungainly, but mathematicians have learned to cope with the formula and have created alternates that let them work with the numbers more effectively. Formula included.

From the Paper
"The mathematical formula known as "Pascal's Triangle" has long been attributed to the great mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, who lived in France during the 17th century. Pascal only lived to be thirty-nine years old, but during his lifetime, he made significant achievements in mathematics and philosophy, and may be most well known for the mathematical formula of Pascal's Triangle, which he did not invent, but has long received credit for inventing. Pascal was a bright child, who created the first known type of automatic calculator at the age of nineteen, and invented the modern-day barometer before he turned thirty-one."

Tags:probabilities, persians, chinese, formula, problem

Abstract
This paper explains that, through logical analysis based on a punishment-reward premise, Pascal shows that believing in God is preferable to not believing. The author points out that the argument is called a "wager" because Pascal phrases it as a sort of bet: The individual has a better chance of being rewarded through belief than through denial; therefore, Pascals' wager defends belief in God through reason and appeal to basic self-interest rather than through theological or mystical proofs. The paper states that, although Pascal's theory is compelling and cleverly worded, the wager has several rhetorical and logical flaws: For example, Pascal's vision is overtly monotheistic and his worldview is essentially dualistic; however, Pascal would not admit to the possibility of multiple Gods because the philosopher's stance was rooted in Christian apologetic literature.

From the Paper
"Ironically, to promote belief in a Christian God, Pascal avoids a direct discussion of Christian theology. Doing so strengthens the appearance of logic and underscores the statistical evidence that Pascal uses to promote theism. However, the absence of any real appeal to mysticism or to matters of the heart ends up weakening the wager. Pascal neglects what could be powerful appeals to emotion, which are essential to most compelling arguments. Also, although Pascal avoids a direct discussion of Christian theology, the philosopher cannot help but insert phrases like "eternal life and happiness," which are written to stimulate an emotional response in the reader. Betting on God brings "eternal life and happiness," according to Pascal, and therefore, no reasonable sane person would not believe in God."

Tags:punishment-reward, bet, self-interest, flaws, statistical

Abstract
This paper looks at how, by using the method of doubt, Descartes claims to have proven with deductive clarity and distinctness that God exists. In particular, the paper examines how the deductive, scientific nature of Descartes' proof of God's existence seems to be the primary target of Pascal's criticism. The paper concludes that there is no contradiction in Pascal's being a Christian apologist and criticizing Descartes for including God in the "Meditations" and that Pascal's particular theology holds that God is too profound to be proven.

From the Paper
"Perhaps it is true that Descartes would have been willing to dispense with God, if he had not needed to appeal to the church in order for his work to be accepted. The first part of Pascal's criticism is fair in that sense, but because of the difficulty in confirming the statement, it is not an especially forceful criticism. The second part of the criticism, when Pascal writes that Descartes "had to make Him give a [finger snap] to set the world in motion," is not only an unfair criticism but is mischaracterizes Descartes' treatment of God. Nowhere in the Meditations does Descartes posit a finger snap or any other divine action as the force setting the world in motion. In fact, this level of cosmology was well beyond Descartes' intended scope."

Tags:Meditations

Abstract
This comparative essay looks at the thought of Michel De Montaigne, Rene Descartes and Blaise Pascal, with regards to the nature of God. The thesis states that all three men argued in favour of the existence of God, but had different ways of arriving at this conclusion. The paper describes that for Montaigne it was through scepticism, for Descartes through doubt and for Pascal through blind faith.

From the Paper
"The Philosophical Argument for God France in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries was a devout country of the Catholic Christian faith. At this time, as across Europe, learned men began to question not just the Catholic Church, as Luther's reformation inspired, but of God himself. Yet, the predominant orthodoxy was to support the existence of God, either through philosophy or just plain faith. Montaigne, Descartes and Pascal all alike affirmed the existence of God. Each though had their own unique method. For Montaigne this existence could be found through skeptical philosophy, and ultimately the divine revelation God has given to us."

Tags:montaigne, descartes, pascal

Abstract
The paper discusses how Blaise Pascal characterizes the existence of God as man's search for truth and knowledge about His real being. The paper explores how, by means of defending the Christian belief against those who persecutes and criticize, he later re-affirms this argument by offering several proofs that god really exists. The paper concludes that, even with the non-completion of "The Pensee"s due to Pascal's death, it has served its primary motive and has brought forth all the messages and lessons that Blaise Pascal wanted to convey in his notes.

From the Paper
"In Pascal's arguments about religion, the existence of God and Christianity directly complement the core idea of the Pensees. That is to stand in defense of the Christian Faith. His line of reasoning on religion utters in evidences and proofs that God exists. The God in the Penesees refers to the God of the Christians and other religion which believes that there is a Divine Being that created the world. Pascal describes religion as part of man's duty to seek his God."

Tags:logic, reason, scholars, mathematicians, philosophers

Abstract
This paper provides a clear explanation of Blaise Pascal's "Wager for Sceptics." It explores, in depth, its merits and its flaws and focuses on the flaws in Pascal's reasoning that resulted in it not achieving his stated goal. This paper demonstrates that, ultimately, the arguments against the "Wager for Skeptics" all stem from the incomprehensible nature of infinity, a notion that lies at the heart of Pascal's work.

From the Paper
"Emanating from his mathematical background, comes Blaise Pascal's Wager - a line of reasoning designed to lure people into the Christian faith. Pascal is acutely aware of human nature, and so bases his campaign around the reader's self-interests, rather than actual theological proofs. The Wager's basic proposition is that if a person believes in the Christian God, there is a chance of them gaining infinite reward. Conversely, if a person does not believe in God, they have no chance of gaining the reward which is on offer. This is a deceptively simple choice: one that immediately appears both enticing and convincing. However, our initial arousal begins to subside just as quickly when we realise that there are major flaws in Pascal's reasoning. Pascal attempts ardently, though unconvincingly, to quash some of the objections that might be proposed. The argument itself, however, if taken as convincing, leads to some unexpected outcomes - ones that do not align with those that Pascal intended. Ultimately, the Wager does not succeed in providing a compelling reason for believing in Pascal's God over any other form of belief."

Tags:infinity, faith, belief

Abstract
This paper discusses the nature of Christ as mediator in the works of Blaise Pascal in his work "Pensees". By studying the sections 190 and 192, one can see how he uses reasoning to prove the existence of God through Christ. The writer shows why there is a strong philosophical connection in this belief system.