I would like to determine how to calculate the combined life
expectancy of a married couple. If person A has a life expectancy of 8
years and person B has a life expectancy of 5 years, what would be the
combined life expectancy? At the end of each year what would be the
probability that neither individual would still be alive?
I liken this to rolling two dice with varying number of sides. If one
die had eight sides and one had 5 sides, how many rolls would it take
to eventually roll a one on each die? What would be a formula for
determining this based on different scenarios?

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 27 Nov 2006 13:59 PST

Fangel --

The example of a married couple doesn't work quite like a dice roll,
as the probability of both not living has a covariance.  The formula
would be simple -- P(A not living) * P (B not living) - Covariance (P
(AB) not living).  But the calculation of the covariance will require
actuarial tables.

Actuarial studies have shown that "married people have lower death
rates than those who are not married AND the differentials are
increasing."

A researcher could help find the actuarial data to calculate life
expectancies for the range that you seek.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Actually, men live longer married and women live shorter lives when married

Ubiquity --

For people of pre-retirement ages you are correct.  For those who are
retired, being married extends the life expectancy of both parties.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA