Leibniz's mathematical handling of death, catastrophes, and insurances
Matematica, cultura e società, Série 1, Tome 1 (2016) no. 3, pp. 259-274
Cet article a éte moissonné depuis la source Biblioteca Digitale Italiana di Matematica
Leibniz was a practical philosopher who devoted his legal knowledge and his mathematical competence to the service of the commune bonum or public welfare. The article discusses five aspects of this service: 1. Leibniz emphasized the need for the creation of a system of public insurances that was based on the principle of solidarity. 2. He taught how to calculate the cash value of a sum of money that is to be paid in the future. 3. Leibniz acknowledged the importance of statistics for the sake of good governance of a state. But he used strongly simplifying hypotheses for his mathematical model of human life in order to discuss life annuities. 4. Leibniz discussed different types of life annuities and deduced the purchase price of a pension by means of his operation of rebate. He found out the presumable life spans of three different types of associations. 5. He explained how life annuities were suitable for eliminating excessive indebtedness of states.
@article{RUMI_2016_1_1_3_a4,
author = {Knobloch, Eberhard},
title = {Leibniz's mathematical handling of death, catastrophes, and insurances},
journal = {Matematica, cultura e societ\`a},
pages = {259--274},
year = {2016},
volume = {Ser. 1, 1},
number = {3},
zbl = {1409.01010},
mrnumber = {3587776},
language = {en},
url = {http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/item/RUMI_2016_1_1_3_a4/}
}
Knobloch, Eberhard. Leibniz's mathematical handling of death, catastrophes, and insurances. Matematica, cultura e società, Série 1, Tome 1 (2016) no. 3, pp. 259-274. http://geodesic.mathdoc.fr/item/RUMI_2016_1_1_3_a4/