Monthly payments from the buyer should add up to something nearer the full value of the property-assuming the seller dies at the time suggested by actuarial tables.
The actuarial profit or mathematical expectation of gain calculated in accordance with the existing probabilities-if it can be so calculated, which is doubtful-must be sufficient to compensate for the risk of disappointment.
He invented the weather map and actuarial table, proposed methods for working out the age of the Earth and its distance from the Sun, even devised a practical method for keeping fish fresh out of season.
Nor can we rationalise our behaviour by arguing that to a man in a state of ignorance errors in either direction are equally probable, so that there remains a mean actuarial expectation based on equi-probabilities.