An Actuarial Note on Actuarial Notation [Discussion]

A paper on actuarial notation in casualty and property insurance is welcome because it forces us to take stock of the basic language of our profession - an important subject that we usually ignore because of the press of more immediate problems. Compact and consistent notation is valuable not only because of its role in communication but also because it assists us in developing our bits and pieces of actuarial knowledge into a coherent and systematic science. In the words of Ernst Mach: “Strange as it may sound, the power of mathematics rests on its evasion of all unnecessary thought and on its wonderful saving of mental operations.“