actuary

/ˌæktʃəˈwɛri/

/ˈæktʃuɛri/

Other forms: actuaries

The person who calculates the risks for an insurance company or financial institution is an actuary. An actuary analyzes accident and life expectancy statistics to help the company set the price of insurance coverage.

An actuary is a risk-management professional who works with mathematical probabilities and other accounting techniques. The current meaning of the word didn't come into use until 1772, although actuarial science had been in use long before that. (The first acknowledged U.S. actuary was Jacob Shoemaker in 1809.) Before that, the word actuary meant someone who was a registrar or clerk. It derives from the Latin word actuarius, "account-keeper," which in turn came from āctus, "public business."

Definitions of actuary

1. noun

   someone versed in the collection and interpretation of numerical data (especially someone who uses statistics to calculate insurance premiums)
   synonyms: statistician

   types:

   surveyor

   someone who conducts a statistical survey

   type of:

   calculator, computer, estimator, figurer, reckoner

   an expert at calculation (or at operating calculating machines)