Finding a satisfactory solution to the problem of option pricing turned out to be harder than it looked. In chapter 5 the development of the eventually successful solution by Fischer Black and Myron Scholes is contrasted with the work of Edward Thorp, a mathematician famous for showing how to beat the house at blackjack by "card counting" (that is, keeping a careful, systematic mental record of the cards that have been played). Black and Scholes were trying to solve a theoretical problem by applying the Capital Asset Pricing Model; Thorp was working on option pricing without use of the CAPM, and his chief goal was identifying arbitrage opportunities.

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 141