Life Insurance Mathematics [Hardcover]

Hans U. Gerber (Author), Samuel H. Cox (Assistant)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 3540588582 | ISBN-13: 978-3540588580 | Publication Date: November 10, 1995 | Edition: 2nd, expanded ed.

This concise introduction to life contingencies, the theory behind the actuarial work around life insurance and pension funds, is written for the reader who likes applied mathematics. In addition to the model of life contingencies, the theory of compound interest is explained and it is shown how mortality and other rates can be estimated from observations. The probabilistic model is used consistently (and the traditional deterministic model avoided). Emphasis is put on the general ideas, which are illustrated by means of examples and interpretations. Recursive formulae and reasoning are discussed in detail. For this second, expanded edition numerous exercises (with answers and solutions) have been added.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

From the Back Cover

This concise introduction to life contingencies, the theory behind the actuarial work around life insurance and pension funds, will appeal to the reader who likes applied mathematics. In addition to model of life contingencies, the theory of compound interest is explained and it is shown how mortality and other rates can be estimated from observations. The probabilistic model is used consistently throughout the book. Numerous exercises (with answers and solutions) have been added, and for this third edition several misprints have been corrected. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 2nd, expanded ed. edition (November 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3540588582
• ISBN-13: 978-3540588580
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,886,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Taxing book, April 27, 2000

By 

"gwaggy" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life Insurance Mathematics, 3rd Edition With Exercises Contributed by Samuel H. Cox (Hardcover)

This book is highly recommended for those who are interested in life insurance and superannuation models. It outlines various topics such as the actuarial mathematics and models for use in the analysis and actuarial management of life insurance and superannuation contracts. Topics covered include: the main forms of life insurance and annuity contracts, disability and long term care contracts and superannuation fund benefits; actuarial notation and the life table; moments of the value of the benefit payments; Thiele's differential equation for policy values; stochastic modelling of claims and benefit payments; gross premiums, net premiums, policy values and reserves; allowing for expenses and inflation; use of discounted emerging costs and profit tests; asset shares in life insurance; termination and alteration values; cost of guarantees; joint life functions; valuation of disability insurance contracts. If you are studying actuarial subjects that involve any of the above concepts then this book is recommended. Included are many questions with answers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but needs more detail., January 14, 2008

By 

Genevieve Hayes (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life Insurance Mathematics, 3rd Edition With Exercises Contributed by Samuel H. Cox (Hardcover)

"Life Insurance Mathematics" is not a bad introductory book for student actuaries. This is a well set out, reasonably well explained book that covers the basic areas of this topic, including: compound interest mathematics; life tables; insurance and annuity functions; premium and reserve calculations; multiple decrements and multiple life functions.

The biggest problem with this book, is that it's just not detailed enough. At only 217 pages, the author barely has time to cover all of the topics that I just mentioned. I teach a unit in Life Insurance Mathematics and the things that my students are always asking for are examples and exercises. There are no worked examples in this text at all (although there are is reasonably large number of exercises, with solutions, in one of the appendices). Furthermore, this book only touches on the basics of Life Insurance math. It does not cover increasing annuities/insurances at all.

This is one of the better books on Life Insurance Mathematics, but only because the other books that are available aren't very good either.