Stochastic

From ancient Greek stochastikos (skillful in aiming), derived from stochos (target, aim)—literally a stick used as an archer's target. Jakob Bernoulli used the Latin phrase "Ars Conjectandi sive Stochastice" in his 1713 treatise Ars Conjectandi. The term entered English in 1662 meaning "pertaining to conjecturing," but its modern mathematical usage emerged in the twentieth century: German mathematician Ladislaus Bortkiewicz wrote "Stochastik" in 1917, and the phrase "stochastic process" first appeared in Joseph L. Doob's 1934 paper.