Actuarial modeling is the name for a set of techniques used in the insurance industry.
These models are composed of equations that represent the functioning of insurance companies, accounting for the probabilities of the events covered by policies and the costs each event presents to the company.
They help companies decide which policies to take and to set premiums based on the projected claims that they will have to pay.
They are important because insurance companies use them to keep the companies solvent; models predict the funds that companies will have to pay out, so they know how much money they have to take in to cover their costs.