Actuarial · Antique book archive
A Sketch of the History of the Science of Life Contingencies with Special Reference to the Origin and Construction of Mortality Tables
By J.J. W. Deuchar, F.F.A., A.I.A., Assistant actuary of the City of Glasgow Life Assurance Company · Published 1882 · Public domain (original) · Scan © Glenn Cooke
History of mortality tables. Did you know that around 300BC they had mortality tables? And those same tables were actually used in the 1500’s? Crazy. Anyway, this is a historical journey through the development of mortality tables. It’s over 100 years old now, and there’s been lots of developments since then. Maybe someday I’ll do some research and extend what the author did.
The Excel data
The downloadable sketchofhistoryoflifecon.zip contains selected pages from the original book transcribed into Excel, plus a high-resolution image of each transcribed page (the image filename matches the corresponding .xlsx).
The data is in the public domain. You're welcome to use it; we just ask you link back to the archive so others can find it.
Glenn Cooke, BMath, MMT
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