La paradoxa de Sant Petersburg: un estudi històrico-matemàtic i una reivindicació didàctica

Abstract

[en] The starting point of this paper is the contradiction that the St. Petersburg paradox poses between the mathematical expectation of gains and the probability of obtaining them. Faced with this scenario, our main purpose was to understand the perplexity of the paradox by carrying out a theoretical study which included an analysis of the many discussions it has generated over time. The unparalleled richness of this debate led us to elaborate a historical and mathematical study of the solutions to the paradox reached by many experts; an analysis that shapes the first part of our thesis. Hereinafter, there is the second part of our work. Driven by the motivation of devoting ourselves to teaching, but, above all, by the problems that we believe are currently to be sought in the act of educating, we deemed it necessary to bring the paradox into the classrooms. In a word, we realized that our assignment was to create a brief, but not less important lesson plan on this part of the mathematical world, which is still barely known today by most of the population, though it is proving to be highly important.