[A062]

actuary

A social mathematician who uses mathematical skills to define, analyze and solve complex business and social problems involving insurance and employee benefit programs. The work of actuaries involves the various contingencies that face human beings: birth, marriage, sickness, accident, loss of property, legal liability, retirement and death, and the financial effects which these and other contingencies have on various insurance and benefit programs. Many of these programs involve long-range financial obligations, for which actuarial forecasts are fundamental in maintaining a sound financial basis: rate-making, premium and loss reserving, investment valuation, pension benefits, and insurance statistics, among others.