Ruggiero Giuseppe Boscovich / Ru？er Josip Bo？kovi？ Breve memoria sul lotto di Roma (1765)

Sa？etak Here published is the editio princeps of Bo？kovi？’s manuscript Breve memoria sul lotto di Roma, which in caligraphic transcription is kept at the Bancroft Library within the University of California at Berkeley, the collection Boscovich Papers, call number Carton 1, Part 1: no. 65, Folder 1:82. The transcription of Bo？kovi？’s manuscript Breve memoria sul lotto di Roma is accompanied by notes and introduction. The latter contains the following: (1) description of the manuscript and the status of its research; (2) outline of the contents of Bo？kovi？’s writing in the field of game theory; (3) assessment of the manuscript’s purpose and messages. The authorship of the writing is undisputable: Bo？kovi？ signed his dedication to Cardinal Federico Marcello Lante Montefeltro della Rovere. The manuscript also contains the place and date when it was written. Dedication is dated: “Bagnaja 26 Luglio 1765.” [“Bagnaia 26 July 1765”]. This means that Bo？kovi？, professor at the Pavia University at the time, composed the memorial during his leave for the purpose of healing a leg wound in the nearby thermal baths in Viterbo. In June he left Pavia and went to Viterbo, and the manuscript proves that after Viterbo he visited the cardinal’s country residence, Villa di Bagnaia, where he remained until the end of July 1765. Indeed, as confirmed by the title page of the manuscript, Bo？kovi？ presented the memorial personally to Cardinal Lante “in his magnificent villa” (presentata a Sua Eminenza Il Signor Cardinal Lante nella sua magnifica Villa di Bagnaja). Among various explanations of lottery, Cardinal Lante showed interest in the mathematical principles of the game, and thus encouraged the professor of mathematics to compose a short memorial (breve memoria) of mathematical nature. With this goal in mind, Bo？kovi？ divided his treatise into three parts. In the first, he expounded the notions of the sets of two, three, four and five winning numbers (ambo, terna, quaterna, cinquina), and also calculated their maximum number for a lottery in which 90 numbers are drawn. In the second part, he discussed the Roman lottery as a theoretical model (in se stesso) or, as explicitly formulated by Bo？kovi？, “independently of the costs of the contractors for the officials and for other purposes, and of the amount the contractors pay to the ruler when the game is leased.” Bo？kovi？ in detail described the four types of lottery winnings in Roman tombola: 1. when simple numbers are drawn in a series of drawings (semplici numeri); 2. when the number is selected (numero eletto); 3. when