United States or Saint Pierre and Miquelon ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
It was life-insurance turned wrong side out, and could only have been devised and carried out by a man of courage with an actuary's bias for mathematics. Instead of agreeing to pay the man so much at death, Voltaire paid him the whole sum in advance, and the man agreed to pay, say, ten per cent interest until either the lender or the borrower died.
"Here is an actuary's table," said he. "At your time of life the average expectancy of life is only a few years even in a well-preserved man." "Do you mean to insinuate that I am not a well-preserved man?" "Well, Admiral, it is a trying life at sea. Sailors in their younger days are gay dogs, and take it out of themselves.
Morgan, the Government actuary, had stated before a parliamentary committee, that though the circumstances of the middle classes had improved, their "expectation of life" had not lengthened. This being diametrically opposed to our student's idea, he endeavoured to demonstrate the fallacy of the actuary's opinion.
Word Of The Day