Re: [lmi] select tables terminology

[Vadim Zeitlin]

On Mon, 15 Feb 2016 11:57:27 +0000 Greg Chicares <address@hidden> wrote:

GC> The number 0..3 in the header row is called "duration".

 Thanks, I've adjusted the error messages accordingly, e.g. they now say

            << "expected duration " << expected
            << " and not " << actual
            << " in the select table header"

GC> By convention, it always begins at zero.

 Interesting, they definitely start with 1 in the select tables produced by
the existing "table_utilities -e" command, e.g. here is an extract:

Minimum age: 10
Maximum age: 121
Select period: 3
Maximum select age: 80
Number of decimal places: 5
Table values:
           1        2        3  Ult.
 10  0.00106  0.00140  0.00165  0.00186   13
...
 80  0.06520  0.10486  0.13557  0.16221   83
 84                             0.17425   84
...
121                             1.00000  121

 I don't think the column labels should be changed to 0,1,2 here, should
they?

GC> The numbers {a0..a3}..{c2..c5} below the "duration" labels are called
GC> "select rates".

 I just call them "values" currently. It's done in several places, so I'm a
bit reluctant to change this, but if you think it would be more clear to
use "select rates", I can do it, of course. In this case I'd like to know
what should be used for the values in the aggregate and duration tables:
just "rates" perhaps?

GC> The ultimate column label doesn't have a name; it's just an ultimate
GC> column label. The numbers x4..x7 below it are called "ultimate rates".

 So this is another (slight) complication, currently I use the same
function (and hence give the same error message in case of a problem) for
both the select and ultimate rates...

GC> > - The ages on the right hand side of the column (4..7) (which I 
inventively
GC> >   call "right hand side age")?
GC> 
GC> "Ultimate age".
GC> 
GC> > - If there is a term for the RHS ages, should some special term be also
GC> >   used for the LHS ones?
GC> 
GC> "Select age".

 Thanks, adjusted as well. I still use just "age" for the non-select tables
however, please correct me if this is wrong.

GC> >  I'm asking about this mostly to make the error messages more clear and,
GC> > possibly, also to make things more clear in the code comments as well.
GC> 
GC> Let me elaborate just a little more, to explain why these terms are used.
[...snipped but saved for future reference...]

 Thanks, I've actually already read a few articles/lecture notes about
this, so I understand the meaning of these numbers now (but wasn't sure
about how are they called in practice), but I probably should have just
asked you instead as your explanation is both much more concise and clear
than everything I saw.

 Thanks again!
VZ