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Tests of a mortality table graduation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

H. L Seal
Affiliation:
Statistician to the Director of Air Matériel, Admiralty

Extract

Sangue di Bacco! ... les dés sont pipés!

A Former President of the Institute once remarked that whereas the graduation of a mortality table might be considered a specialized technique not required by the practising actuary, the efficient testing of any graduation submitted to him should be an integral part of his actuarial ability. The student anxious to equip himself in this respect encounters considerable divergence of opinion regarding the best method of testing a graduation. There is complete agreement as to the duality of purpose of such a test: smoothness and fidelity to the data are essential factors. But whilst the criterion of smoothness is easily formulated—the run of the second or third differences of qx must show no awkward breaks—the views relating to the tests of adherence to the data are divided between the application of a “mean deviation” rule at each age or group of ages and a purely “practical” judgment based on that elusive virtue, experience.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Institute and Faculty of Actuaries 1943

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