Non-Life Insurance Mathematics: An Introduction with Stochastic Processes (Universitext)

Book Description

This book offers a mathematical introduction to non-life insurance and, at the same time, to a multitude of applied stochastic processes. It gives detailed discussions of the fundamental models for claim sizes, claim arrivals, the total claim amount, and their probabilistic properties. Throughout the book the language of stochastic processes is used for describing the dynamics of an insurance portfolio in claim size space and time. In addition to the standard actuarial notions, the reader learns about the basic models of modern non-life insurance mathematics: the Poisson, compound Poisson and renewal processes in collective risk theory and heterogeneity and Bühlmann models in experience rating. The reader gets to know how the underlying probabilistic structures allow one to determine premiums in a portfolio or in an individual policy. Special emphasis is given to the phenomena which are caused by large claims in these models. What makes this book special are more than 100 figures and tables illustrating and visualizing the theory. Every section ends with extensive exercises. They are an integral part of this course since they support the access to the theory. The book can serve either as a text for an undergraduate/graduate course on non-life insurance mathematics or applied stochastic processes. Its content is in agreement with the European "Groupe Consultatif" standards. An extensive bibliography, annotated by various comments sections with references to more advanced relevant literature, make the book broadly and easiliy accessible.

Book Description

Includes maps

Book Description

When disaster strikes, when election returns are in, when scandals break, when the ubiquitous racial and sexual tensions of our land blow their PC gasket, when the famous die, it seems the monied men of Wall Street are always the first to craft our national anxiety in to a joke. The cynical, educated, three-steaks-a-week, house-in-the-Hamptons representatives on the Any Rand in all of us generate the jokes that get faxed nationwide. That's the myth, and this is the confirmation of it. Compiled by four anonymous Wall Streeters, here are the jokes that are sure to come in handy for any commuter, socially challenged business person, or new guy/gal at the water fountain. Slim enough to fit in your shirt pocket, this joke book can be toted with you for those moments that call for a real-man's guffraw. Here's a taste of the humor that makes this country what it is, from the men who make this country what it is.

Customer Reviews:

Good compilation of current humor, but not about Wall Street.......1997-11-08

If you're around jokesters or if you trade jokes over e-mail with friends, you've probably heard or read at least half of the jokes in this book. Still, it is a nice collection of mostly contemporary material. If your conception of the book, based on the title, is that the jokes are about the financial industry in some way, they aren't. In fact, due to the political incorrectness of some material, it's no wonder the authors are anonymous.

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More Raunchy Riddles

Manufacturer: Pinnacle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

A Stupid Book

More Raunchy Riddles
J. Martling
Manufacturer: Pinnacle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1558170731

Customer Reviews:

A Stupid Book.......2001-03-24

This guy just isn't funny. Don't waste your money.

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Raunchy Riddles
Jackie Martling
Manufacturer: Pinnacle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 155817771X

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Raunchy Riddles
Jackie Martling
Manufacturer: Pinnacle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 052342275X

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Raunchy Riddles

Manufacturer: Pinnacle, 1984
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HFSMQW

Book Description

The indispensable consumer's guide to the music of Madonna. An album by album, track by track examination of every song released by Madonna, from the first single "Everybody" to "Music" and the present day. Includes sections on Madonna's soundtrack and compilation albums.

Book Description

Classification is the essential first step in science. The study of science, as well as the practice of science, will thus benefit from a detailed classification of different types of science.

In this book, science - defined broadly to include the social sciences and humanities - is first unpacked into its constituent elements: the phenomena studied, the data used, the theories employed, the methods applied, and the practices of scientists. These five elements are then classified in turn. Notably, the classifications of both theory types and methods allow the key strengths and weaknesses of different theories and methods to be readily discerned and compared. Connections across classifications are explored: should certain theories or phenomena be investigated only with certain methods? What is the proper function and form of scientific paradigms? Are certain common errors and biases in scientific practice associated with particular phenomena, data, theories, or methods? The classifications point to several ways of improving both specialized and interdisciplinary research and teaching, and especially of enhancing communication across communities of scholars. The classifications also support a superior system of document classification that would allow searches by theory and method used as well as causal links investigated.

Knowledge and the Social Sciences: Theory, Method and Practice (An Introduction to the Social Sciences)

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Knowledge and the Social Sciences: Theory, Method and Practice (An Introduction to the Social Sciences)
D. Goldblatt
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Epistemology | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0415222850

Book Description

This book provides a clear introduction to key philosophical and epistemological issues in the social sciences, to both positivist and interpretative methodologies through comparing contemporary debates surrounding social change.

KNOWLEDGE AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: THEORY, METHOD, PRACTICE (An Introduction to the Social Science Understanding Social Change)

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KNOWLEDGE AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: THEORY, METHOD, PRACTICE (An Introduction to the Social Science Understanding Social Change)
Davi Goldblatt
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

A BusinessWeek Top Ten Business Book of 2004: "Auletta puts the most human of faces on Turner yet…[as] a tycoon who has lost his power."—BusinessWeek

Ted Turner revolutionized television. Foreseeing cable's potential in its infancy, he parlayed a tiny UHF station in Atlanta into a national superstation, invented CNN, and transformed sports teams and the MGM film library into lucrative programming. Ken Auletta, the most respected media journalist in America, enjoyed unparalleled access to the outspoken and defiant Turner in writing this book (named one of BusinessWeek's Top Ten Books of 2004), capturing the visionary businessman as he built—and lost—his improbable empire.

About the series: Enterprise pairs distinguished writers with stories of the economic forces that have shaped the modern world—the institutions, the entrepreneurs, the ideas. Enterprise introduces a new genre—the business book as literature.

Customer Reviews:

The Rise and the Fall of the Turner Empire.......2006-01-09

How does a guy who sells billboards create a media empire? In 2001, author Ken Auletta won a National Magazine Award for his profile of media mogul Ted Turner in `The New Yorker'. In this book, he expands this profile, giving colorful detail about the remarkable life of the colorful, outspoken and complicated business cowboy. Auletta shows that Turner is shocking, abrasive and driven, but he rarely goes more deeply into Turner's motivations than to explain his rebellion against his father. The book chronicles Turner's revolutionary, meteoric creation of a cable empire, including the nation's first cable superstation, and the founding of CNN. It follows Turner as Time Inc., gobbles up his thriving company. Auletta takes a hard look at the personalities that engineered the formation of AOL Time Warner, then the world's biggest media company. Unfortunately, at this point, Auletta becomes preoccupied with the dealmakers and - like AOL TW - places Turner on the back burner. This is just a detour, however, from his compelling portrayal of a corporate superstar who ran his business from his gut. We recommend this fascinating read.

Method to his madness.......2005-09-08

This book provides a short but insightful biography of Ted Turner, the southern businessman known for his business acquisitions, media influence, sports franchises, and Jane Fonda. The book lays out the private and public life of Ted Turner from his birth to his recent donation of $10 billion US to the UN. Included in it are chapters on his schooling, his relationship with his father, his marriage to Jane Fonda, his entry into the media market culminating with CNN, and his later entry into progressive politics.

The book is easy to read and filled with colorful insights into his life. Major financial and business ventures are covered in detail, with analysis of both legal and money aspects. The book is well referenced, drawing info from interviews with Mr. Turner, his friends and family, and secondary sources such as other books and newspaper articles. The book can be read in 1 day or less, and I recommend reading it.

Good outline of the heretofore life and career of "Terrible Ted" Turner.......2005-08-27

Media Man by noted media journalist Ken Auletta gives the casual media novice a fine overview of the personality, passions, and career highlights of Ted Turner, a man who transformed television by making 24-hour cable news a force with which to be reckoned and helping make cable per se almost a household necessity.

An interesting point of his business personality as depicted in this book is that he's not afraid to take risks, yet is supposedly very uncomfortable with debt. So why did he practically mortgage his company in an effort to acquire CBS? The reasoning isn't really fleshed out to a satisfying degree. All we really take away from this account is how he desperately wanted to expand into broadcast network television; not on how such a massive and high-profile acquisition would benefit viewers, shareholders, and employees. Taken in context with the entirety of the book, one concludes that the move was as much ego-driven as Turner would maintain that it was driven to create cost-efficiencies.
We also don't get a clear sense of what's behind his fervent anti-unionism and vaunted parsimony, only that they were definitely traits of his.

While getting a taste of his upbringing and subsequent family life is interesting as background, probably the most compelling part of this book is Turner's boardroom battles as part of Time Warner, and later AOL-Time Warner. Here we get a true sense of the personalities and motivations at work, and at odds, within the changing paradigms of corporate media. It's this that made the book worth reading and where Auletta shines as a writer--the kind of writing that made Three Blind Mice so noteworthy and memorable.

At only about 180 pages, it's difficult to recommend this book at full list price, or even Amazon's substantially discounted price, but a used or library copy is definitely worth the time to get to know a little more of this broadcasting and entertainment pioneer.

Ted the Great!.......2005-05-17

He was a visionary, wanting to conquer the world like his first hero, Alexander the Great. He conquered the media world with CNN and TNT. My hero was General MacArthur; he too conquered the world with his determination and fighting spirit. His "I shall return" was a war cry and a promise.

I was drawn to this book because I appreciate his sponsoring GODS & GENERALS, a Civil War movie with the South's viewpoint in which there were many generals, but God let us down. He spent $55 million of his own money to produce this masterpiece.

Ted's grandfather was a sharecropper in Mississippi, and yet Ted was born in Cincinnati, Ohio (Nick Clooney's town). His father was a dictator, which caused Ted to have mood swings and a ferocious temper.

When married to Jane Fonda (1991-2001), he secluded himself in an efficiency apartment "penthouse" atop the CNN Center Building in Atlanta. Previously, he had slept in his office. She was window dressing and traveling companion. He owned at that time an 8,000-acre Florida estate, cattle and sheep ranches in Montana, New Mexico and Argentina. Who knows what else? Anyway, he kept her 'in style' and it was observed that she was his "equal" -- she was different. He treated her with a lot of respect. She had been an anti-war activist, movie star, and daughter of Henry Fonda. What else could he ask for? But, every cloud sooner or later bursts and a thunderstorm ensues.

His motto is "You cannot give up hope... The situation is hopeless -- but I might be wrong." He's had an exciting life, but not much luck in the marriage department, like Peter Fonda. Now, he can rest on his laurels. I enjoyed seeing the photo of the young Ted Turner with "no perfect teeth" and in the straw bowler hat. He was a dandy back then. Thank you, TT for GODS AND GENERALS. Thank you, Ken A. for a good bio. He overcame all odds and he is "somebody of stature."

A very brief bio..........2005-02-14

I picked this book up at a competing brick and mortar book store. I did so mainly to learn why CNN had been dethroned by FoxNews, and also because I had an interest in the man credited with the invention of 24-hour news.

Overall, the book was satisfying. Turner's life is covered rather well, but the details are missing. Every chapter seems more of a summary of something larger than a fact-filled chapter that it is intended to be. Then again, I wasn't expecting a thorough biography given its scant 180 pages.

Regardless, this book will give you a good idea of the man that is Turner. Why did he strive for greatness? Why did he create CNN? How and why did he lose CNN and his fortune? Why is his heart set on world peace? These questions - and others - are neatly answered.

Media Man Ted Turner's Improbable Empire

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Media Man Ted Turner's Improbable Empire
Ken Auletta
Manufacturer: W.W. NORTON
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OK83CI

Book Description

Thirty clearly defined lessons take the reader from understanding the parts of an Excel application into building applications to work with data, formulas, charts, and the enhanced XML capabilities of the new Excel "X"
Book is designed to teach the core concepts of Excel over a weekend or in just fifteen hours, with each session being thirty minutes
Applicable to Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and the latest release, Excel "X"
Helps Excel power users in fields such as accounting, finance, operations management, and market research to begin automating data manipulation in Excel quickly, so they can handle real-world projects
A how-to guide to using Excel's programmability to create custom data-processing and analysis solutions
Covers security, debugging, and error handling
Companion Web site includes sample files, projects, and test enginewith self-assessment exam

Download Description

* Thirty clearly defined lessons take the reader from understanding the parts of an Excel application into building applications to work with data, formulas, charts, and the enhanced XML capabilities of the new Excel "X"
* Book is designed to teach the core concepts of Excel over a weekend or in just fifteen hours, with each session being thirty minutes
* Applicable to Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and the latest release, Excel "X"
* Helps Excel power users in fields such as accounting, finance, operations management, and market research to begin automating data manipulation in Excel quickly, so they can handle real-world projects
* A how-to guide to using Excel's programmability to create custom data-processing and analysis solutions
* Covers security, debugging, and error handling
* Companion Web site includes sample files, projects, and test enginewith self-assessment exam

Customer Reviews:

Missing exercises and examples.......2005-06-25

I thought that the material was thought through and presented well. It fell short, in my opinion, because there weren't enough examples or any exercises to demonstrate how to apply the programming techniques to different situations within Excel.

A workbook would be a great addition to this text.

Great Book.......2005-05-21

It took exactly a weekend for me to digest this book. The author's writing style is clear and the book was clearly well designed. You should write this from cover to cover and you'll get exactly what's you are promised to get: a course on Excel macro and excel programming.

Good value for money.

Learn Excel VBA in a weekend? You bet!.......2005-04-14

I recently picked this book up after I tasked myself with developing a quoting system for my company. I've had some exposure to VBA before, but only small segments such as a message or input box, simple forms, etc.

Immediately after sitting down with this book I was impressed. Mr. Aitken writes in a clear, concise, and very logical manner that I found easy to follow. Topics are presented well and for the most part given adequate treatment. Some may say the book is too basic, but it's not meant to be an advanced programming course.

In a little over three days, I was able to completely program a sales quoting system using multiple screens, worksheet linking, and simple database tables. Now, instead of hand-writing and calculating associated costs (which often leads to errors) the user is systematically prompted for key inputs and all calculations are done in the background. I've reduced administrative time required to complete a quote by over 25%.

Not bad for a weekend project!

Poor examples, it tells you what to do and does not show you.......2004-10-29

This book is extreemly frustrating as it tells you what excel can do, gives brief formulas but then does not show you how to use them in detail so it can be difficult in trying to acheive the result with the given formulas.

Not a weekend crash course.......2004-10-18

I bought this book based on the reviews and summary because it sounds like a book that a beginner could really learn from. But not so. I've made it to chapter four but I'm finding I can go on no longer. This book is basically straight text. There are no step by step lessons to demonstrate what the lesson is talking about. The book does provide some sample code, but it is presented as an example; you do not build it yourself. This book tells you what to do, but you don't get your hands dirty by actually writing codes yourself and then seeing what the code does.

I will say this though. The text itself is well written and is readable enough, given the dry nature of the subject. But I do feel this is more of a reference book for beginners. I'm going to buy the Microsoft step-by-step book, then come back to this book.

I'm giving it two stars simply because I do not believe this book is what it claims to be, a weekend crash course.

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