13 7 Introduction to Second Edition
Comparative Reserve Tables © 1915
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INTRODUCTION TO SECOND EDITION.
These tables have a history which may be interesting.
When, in 1903, my short paper, introducing the formula for
reserves by the select and ultimate method, was prepared for the
Actuarial Society of America, it was obvious that, in order that a
practical use for the formula might be indicated, tables were requisite
to illustrate its application.
Accordingly, utilizing certain assumptions as to mortality
during the first five years, known to represent actual experience very
conservatively on the whole, and taking the American Experience
table as an approximate expression for ultimate mortality, tables of
values and margins were computed on the American Experience Select
and Ultimate basis, with interest at 3 per cent. and 3^$ per cent.
and were included in the second edition of “Various Derived Tables,”
which was then about to be published.
In view of the high price of this book ($25 per copy), and the
fact that the tables were not demanded for immediate use, this intro-
duction was not deemed sufficiently popular; and, therefore, the same
tables were comprised in a new volume, entitled “Comparative Reserve
Tables,” which also contained reserve tables by the “Modified Pre-
liminary Term” method, the origin of which is hereinafter narrated.
Soon afterward, in the second edition of “Practical Lessons in
Actuarial Science,” the formula was fully described and the “Ameri-
can Experience Select and Ultimate” table and commutation columns
corresponding to it were printed.
“Comparative Reserve Tables” was published in 1905, at $5.00
per copy. In 1906, on the recommendation of the “Armstrong Com-
mittee,” reserves by the select and ultimate method and the American
Experience table and 3^ per cent. interest became the minimum
reserve standard for New York. In order that all who were inter-
ested should be able to obtain these reserves, without giving a profit
to the author of the book, who was the actuary of the Committee,
the price was for a year reduced to $i, actually below the cost of
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