Comparison of Actual and Expected Losses as a Means of Loss Analysis

Since life insurance practice has long been based upon established mortality tables, it is natural that there should have grown up the practice of comparison from time to time of actual morality with tabular expected. And the habit of making such comparisons having been fixed, it is no occasion for surprise to find the actuary using the principle for many purposes for which it at first seems in no wise adapted, for example, the construction and graduation of mortality tables based upon limited data by such comparison with a standard table and graduation of the ratio of actual to expected.