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Daily Syllabus - Math 217 Voting Theory - Spring 2014

Be sure to check back, because this will be updated during the semester.

The items in blue are the reading assignments for the day. The primary readings for the course are:

  • Felsenthal and Machover, "Enlargement of the EU and Weighted Voting in its Council of Ministers"
  • Jones, "The Geometry behind Paradoxes of Voting Power"
  • Balinski and Young, Fair Representation
  • Álvarez-Rivera, "The Republic of South Africa Electoral System"
  • Saari, Chaotic Elections! A Mathematician Looks at Voting (on reserve in the library)

Monday Wednesday Friday
1/22 Snow day. Really. 1/24 Welcome to Voting Theory
1/27 Yes/No voting systems
RA: Felsenthal & Machover, Preface, Sections 1.1 and 1.2
Bio info @ onCourse due 		1/29 The Penrose measure and Banzhaf index
RA: Felsenthal & Machover, reread Sections 1.1 and 1.2 		1/31 Other considerations in Yes/No systems
RA: Felsenthal & Machover, Section 1.3
2/3 Paradoxes of power indices
RA: Jones, pp 103-108 		2/5 The geometry of paradoxes
RA: Jones, pp 109-115 		2/7 Creating paradoxical examples
RA: Jones, reread the entire paper
HW #1 due in class
2/10 Two-tiered voting systems
RA: Felsenthal & Machover, Section 2.1 		2/12 Equitability in two-tiered systems
RA: Felsenthal & Machover, Section 2.2 		2/14 Majoritarianism in two-tiered systems
RA: Felsenthal & Machover, Section 2.3
HW #2 due in class
2/17 Apportionment methods of Hamilton and Jefferson
RA: Balinski & Young, Chaps 1-3 		2/19 Apportionment paradoxes
RA: Balinski & Young, Chaps 4-5 		2/21 Quota methods and divisor methods
RA: Balinski & Young, Chaps 6-7
Title for Book Review due
2/24 Apportionment methods of Dean and Hill
RA: Balinski & Young, review Chap 7 		2/26 Evaluating the apportionment methods
RA: Balinski & Young, Chaps 8-10 		2/28 More on evaluating the apportionment methods
RA: Balinski & Young, reread Chaps 8-10
HW #3 due in class
3/3 Exam 1 @ 6:30 pm 3/5 Proportional representation
RA: Balinski & Young, Chaps 11-12 		3/7 No class. Will be rescheduled for after Spring Break.
3/10 Spring Break 3/12 Spring Break 3/14 Spring Break
3/17 PR in South Afria
RA: Watch screencast posted at onCourse 		3/19 Drawing district boundaries and gerrymandering
RA: See links at onCourse
Progress report on Book Review due 		3/21 Elections with three candidates
3/24 TBA 3/26 The representation triangle 3/28 The procedure line
HW #4 due in class
3/31 A fundamental decomposition of R6 4/2 Decomposing voting profiles 4/4 Creating paradoxical examples
Book Review due
4/7 Almost anything can happen 4/9 Elections with four candidates 4/11 Analyzing the 1860 Presidential election
HW #5 due in class
4/14 Arrow's Theorem
Topic for Presentation due 		4/16 Exam 2 @ 6:30 pm 4/18 Proof of Arrow's Theorem
4/21 Understanding what Arrow's Theorem says . . . and doesn't say 4/23 Approval Voting 4/25 Spatial models of voting
Paper for Presentation due
4/28 Student Presentations 4/30 Student Presentations 5/2 Student Presentations
Final Exam
Friday, May 9, 2:00 - 5:00

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