Leibniz's mathematical handling of death, catastrophes, and insurances

Eberhard Knobloch

Matematica, Cultura e Società. Rivista dell'Unione Matematica Italiana (2016)

  • Volume: 1, Issue: 3, page 259-274
  • ISSN: 2499-751X

Abstract

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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.

How to cite

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Knobloch, Eberhard. "Leibniz's mathematical handling of death, catastrophes, and insurances." Matematica, Cultura e Società. Rivista dell'Unione Matematica Italiana 1.3 (2016): 259-274. <http://eudml.org/doc/288246>.

@article{Knobloch2016,
abstract = {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.},
author = {Knobloch, Eberhard},
journal = {Matematica, Cultura e Società. Rivista dell'Unione Matematica Italiana},
language = {eng},
month = {12},
number = {3},
pages = {259-274},
publisher = {Unione Matematica Italiana},
title = {Leibniz's mathematical handling of death, catastrophes, and insurances},
url = {http://eudml.org/doc/288246},
volume = {1},
year = {2016},
}

TY - JOUR
AU - Knobloch, Eberhard
TI - Leibniz's mathematical handling of death, catastrophes, and insurances
JO - Matematica, Cultura e Società. Rivista dell'Unione Matematica Italiana
DA - 2016/12//
PB - Unione Matematica Italiana
VL - 1
IS - 3
SP - 259
EP - 274
AB - 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.
LA - eng
UR - http://eudml.org/doc/288246
ER -

References

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  1. HALD, A.1990. . New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore. Zbl0731.01001
  2. HAUSER, W.1997. . Stuttgart. Zbl0864.01004
  3. KNOBLOCH, E.1999. Les finances. In: L'actualité de Leibniz, Les deux labyrinths. Décade de Cerisy la Salle 15-22 juin 1995, publ. par Dominique Berlioz et Frédéric Nef. Stuttgart, 543-558. 
  4. KNOBLOCH, E.2000. Die Schriften im Überblick. In: Leibniz 2000, 575-589. 
  5. KNOBLOCH, E.2001. Leibniz's versicherungswissenschaftliche Schriften im Überblick. In: Zeitschrift für die gesamte Versicherungswirtschaft90, 293-302. 
  6. LEIBNIZ, G. W.1683. Meditatio Juridico-mathematica de interusurio simplice. In: Acta Eruditorum October, 425-432. I cite the reprint in: Leibniz 2000, 272-293. 
  7. LEIBNIZ, G. W.1995. . Texte établi, traduit, introduit et annoté par Marc Parmentier. Paris. Zbl0849.01046
  8. LEIBNIZ, G. W.2000. , hrsg. von Eberhard Knobloch und J. Matthias Graf von der Schulenburg. Berlin. Zbl0997.01011
  9. de MORA CHARLWWES, MARY SOL2002. Pensions, rentas y seguros Los primeros calculos y la participación de Leibniz. In: Historia de la probabilidad y la estadistica, por A.H.E.P.E.Madrid, 35-48. 
  10. ROHRBASSER, J.-M., VÉRON, J.2001. Leibniz et les raisonnements sur la vie humaine. Préface de Marc Barbut. Paris. Zbl1092.01506

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