ABSTRACT
Risk taking has always been the preserve of gamblers and they do it with an aim to make a profit if the future coincides with the bet. The expansion of trade between London and the New World meant there were fortunes to be made exporting and importing goods. The occurrence of a few events at random in a large population is the basis of the risk assessment that insurance companies make; without the Normal distribution they would be unable to calculate the premiums that we take for granted when project manager insure the house or the car. Risk was a term that was increasingly used by economists; it has no particular place in the world of pure mathematics and probability as the theories are indifferent as to whether or not the result of some event is good or bad. Risk is an enduring part of life itself.
