Probability theory arose originally in connection with games of chance and
then for a long time it was used primarily to investigate the credibility of
testimony of witnesses in the “ethical” sciences. Nevertheless, probability has
become a very powerful mathematical tool in understanding those aspects
of the world that cannot be described by deterministic laws. Probability has
succeeded in finding strict determinate relationships where chance seemed to
reign and so terming them “laws of chance” combining such contrasting notions in the nomenclature appears to be quite justified. This introductory
chapter discusses such notions as determinism, chaos and randomness, predictibility and unpredictibility, some initial approaches to formalizing randomness and it surveys certain problems that can be solved by probability
theory. This will perhaps give one an idea to what extent the theory can answer questions arising in specific random occurrences and the character of the
answers provided by the theory