The mathematician

James Braddock, an actuary and second vice president with New York Life Insurance Co., notes that there are only 900 fully qualified actuaries in the United States. He then explains how insurance is based on the mathematics of probability, the ratio of favorable ways over total ways, and demonstrates this concept with dice and poker hands. This applies to the actuary's responsibility of underwriting life insurance for people with hazardous jobs or high health risks. Such a career is a planning and administrative job requiring knowledge and judgment. Dr. Kelso Morrill, an associate professor of math at Johns Hopkins University, describes pure mathematics as the ability to think logically in abstract terms, but one also needs patience, enthusiasm, and creativity to teach it. He explains and compares the decimal and binary systems of counting. The binary system was introduced by the German mathematician Leibniz and is now the basis for computer calculations.Dr. Lewis Fulton, an applied mathematician, discusses the IBM high-speed computer's mathematical functions and decision logic. Even with the programming language FORTRAN (formula translation), a computer must still receive instructions or a program from a live mathematician in order to process information. A film shows a computer receiving binary-coded information from typed punch cards and storing it on magnetic tape, as for the Social Security Administration's records. Lynn Poole concludes the program by reiterating the opportunities in all areas of math.