80   Life Contingencies

4. In actuarial work the experience of the past is used as a guide to the future. There are many different types of lives but the past experience available is limited. It would be folly, apart from the labour, to break the past experience up into a multitude of parts so that we could have a separate table for each type of life. "Standard" tables are formed from the past experience representing the mortality likely to be experienced in the near future by more or less well defined groups of persons. When an individual is to be considered whose expected mortality differs greatly from the average, an estimated adjustment is made to the results which can be obtained from the standard table so as to fit his case.

5. Sometimes the conditions under which the applicant is living or the medical examination and record of family history demanded before a policy is issued may reveal risks or defects indicating for example:

(1) that the proposed life is subject to more than the normal risk of death during the next n years,

(2) that the proposed life while quite healthy at present comes of a stock which is not long lived,

(3) that the proposed life exhibits general weaknesses greater than is normally the case at his age.

The first case might not be accepted for a term policy but might be accepted for a whole life policy with a reduced amount at risk during the first n years.

The second case could be accepted for a term policy or an endowment policy or even for a whole life policy under which the amount at risk would diminish during the later years.

The third case, if accepted, might be "rated up", i.e., regarded as an older life than he actually is.

The first and second cases, when quite definite, present no mathematical difficulty.

The third case may be illustrated as follows:

A man who is 30 years of age asks for a whole life policy but has been "rated up" to age 45 by the medical examiner. He objects to paying the premium for age 45, asking to be allowed to