On Methods of Approximation

To discover in the doctrine of life contingencies, convenient, and at the same time nearly true approximations, to be employed in determining the values of Survivorships, instead of the long and complex formulæ at present required for their solution, is an inquiry of no small importance to the practical actuary, more especially when it is remembered, that, even if the exact formulæ be employed, the results will in the greater number of cases be themselves mere approximations, in consequence of the defective nature of some of the elementary values employed in the solution