An approach to the use of computers in actuarial work

Abstract

Electronic computers have been available commercially for about 20 years. Actuarial interest was soon shown, but although a number of papers have appeared over the years there has been little recent discussion of how computers can best serve the profession.Many actuaries have little computing experience. To them it may appear a daunting task to learn to use a computer, because many instruction manuals seem, at first sight, extensive and complex. Our principal aim is to demonstrate to them that given suitable permanent facilities it is quite easy to use a computer for actuarial calculations, however complex these may be. We suggest that the complexity of most existing actuarial programming systems is unnecessary, and may have impeded the understanding of the computer's potential by actuaries.