stochasticadj.

1917 L. von Bortkiewicz Die Iterationen 3 Die an der Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie orientierte, somit auf ‘das Gesetz der Grossen Zahlen’ sich gründende Betrachtung empirischer Vielheiten möge als Stochastik..bezeichnet werden.

1923 A. A. Tschuprow in Metron II. 461 Every stochastical (1) theory of statistics sees in the empirical statistical numbers images of certain really significant quantities—reflected confuse[d] images blurred..by the Chance. [Note] (1) I use the word ‘stochastical’ as synonymous to ‘based on the theory of probability’—cf. J. Bernoulli, Ars Conjectandi, Basileae, 1713, p. 213 ‘Ars Conjectandi sive Stochastice nobis definitur ars metiendi quam fieri potest exactissimi probabilitates rerum’ and L. v. Bortkiewicz, Die Iterationen.]

1934 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 20 376 A stochastic process is defined by Khintchine to be a one parameter set of chance variables: x(t), −∞ < t < ∞.

1943 Rev. Mod. Physics XV. 32 That we should be able to idealize Brownian motion as a Markoff process appears very reasonable. But we should be careful not to conclude too hastily that every stochastic process is necessarily of the Markoff type.

1957 New Scientist 20 June 17/3 A new approach to population dynamics was needed, and quite recently this has been provided by J. G. Skellam in the form of a stochastic model which allows the experimentalist to regard his population as a random variable at each instant in time, and is much more flexible than the earlier deterministic equations.

1968 P. A. P. Moran Introd. Probability Theory iii. 108 We have already dealt with some simple cases of successive trials in which the probabilities at each stage depend on what has happened before... As the successive stages can be regarded as successive instants of time the sequence of events may be regarded as a ‘random’ or ‘stochastic’..process.

1971 Kimura & Ohta Theoret. Aspects Population Genetics iii. 33 In any finite population, gene frequencies are subject to stochastic change due to random sampling of gametes.

1979 Sci. Amer. Mar. 64/2 (advt.) The key was recognizing that the star formation process was ‘stochastic’. That is, new massive stars are not necessarily created adjacent to a supernova; rather, a probability exists for their formation.

1958 Y. Xenakis in Gravesaner Blätter IV. 112 (title) In search of a Stochastic music.

1958 Y. Xenakis in Gravesaner Blätter IV. 121 This glissando passage has been taken as an example, for it comprises every problem of this Stochastic music controlled by arithmetic.

1963 T. Pynchon V. x. 292 He got around to talking stochastic music and digital computers with one technician.

1969 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 28 June 56/2 Though much has been written, especially by Xenakis himself, on the technique of ‘stochastic’ music, most of it is utterly unintelligible to the layman.

1975 New Yorker 19 May 90/1 I heard a Balinese gamelan one night and the Strasbourg Battery in Yannis Xenakis's latest ‘stochastic’ composition the next.

1978 P. Griffiths Conc. Hist. Mod. Music xi. 169 Iannis Xenakis..has also used computers as calculating aids in the composition of his ‘stochastic’ music, where the musical form is made analogous to a stochastic process (i.e. one ruled by laws of probability, such as a sequence of dice throws).