Analysis of business application problems on IBM 650 magnetic drum data-processing machine

This discussion will consider how the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company viewed the problem of how it might use the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) type 650 machine to fulfill part of a responsibility of considerable magnitude. This responsibility may be stated as follows: Determine each year the amount of dividends, which will be payable in cash or otherwise credited to the policy holders, for each of 4,000,000 ordinary life insurance policies. The type of administrator normally charged with fulfilling this responsibility should be viewed as one who possesses merely a superficial knowledge of electronics and, at most, only a broad general knowledge of the principles concerning the use of modern machine equipment.