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Daily Syllabus - Math 217 Voting Theory - Spring 2016

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 (F&M), "Enlargement of the EU and Weighted Voting in its Council of Ministers"
  • Jones, "The Geometry behind Paradoxes of Voting Power", Mathematics Magazine. April 2009, Vol. 82 Issue 2, pp 103-116. Available through library.
  • Balinski and Young, Fair Representation, Second Edition, Brookings Institution Press.
  • Álvarez-Rivera, "The Republic of South Africa Electoral System"
  • Saari, Chaotic Elections! A Mathematician Looks at Voting (on reserve in the library)

Tuesday Thursday
1/28 Welcome to Voting Theory!
2/2 Yes/No voting systems
The Penrose measure
Read F&M, Preface, Sections 1.1 and 1.2 		2/4 Sensitivity and resistance
Reread F&M, Preface, Sections 1.1 and 1.2
Read F&M, Section 1.3.2
2/9 Paradoxes of voting power
Read Jones, pp 103 - 108 		2/11 Paradoxes of voting power
Read Jones, pp 109 - 116
HW #1 due @ 3:00 pm
2/16 Two-tiered voting systems
Read F&M, Sections 2.1 and 2.2 		2/18 Equitability and majoritarianism in two-tiered systems
Read F&M, Section 2.3
HW #2 due @ 3:00 pm
2/23 Apportionment methods of Hamilton, Jefferson, and Webster
Read B&Y, Chapters 1-4 		2/25 Understand apportionment paradoxes
Read B&Y, Chapters 5-7
3/1 Evaluating apportionment methods
Read B&Y, Chapter 8 		3/3 Evaluating apportionment methods
Read B&Y, Chapters 9-11
HW #3 due @ 3:00 pm
3/8 Exam 1 3/10 Allocating delegates in the Presidential Primaries
Title for Book Review due @ 3:00 pm
3/15 Spring Break 3/17 Spring Break
3/22 Proportional Representation system in South Africa
Read the short intro to PR and watch the screencast posted at onCourse
Read the web article The Republic of South Africa Electoral System by Álvarez-Rivera
3/24 Elections with three candidates
Read Saari, preface (pp ix-xiii), Sections 1.2.1 & 1.2.2 (pp 17-27), and Section 2.2 (pp 40-45)
3/29 The representation triangle and procedure line
Read Saari, Sections 2.2 & 2.3 (pp 40-52)
Johnson Lecture 5:30 pm on 3/30 		3/31 The procedure line and approval voting
Read Saari, Section 2.4 (pp 53-60)
HW #4 due @ 3:00 pm
Progress Report on Book Review due @ 3:00 pm
4/5 A fundamental decomposition of ℝ6
Read Saari, Section 5.3 (pp 129-135) 		4/7 A fundamental decomposition of ℝ6
Reread Saari, Section 5.3 (pp 129-135)
HW #5 due @ 3:00 pm
4/12 Creating paradoxical examples
4/14 Elections with four candidates and the 1860 Presidential election
Read Saari, Section 2.5 (pp 60-68)
Topic for Group Presentations due
Book Review due @ 3:00 pm
4/19 Flex day
4/21 Arrow's Theorem
HW #6 due @ 3:00 pm
4/26 Understanding what Arrow's Theorem says. . .and doesn't say
Paper for Group Presentations due
4/28 Exam 2
5/3 Group Presentations
5/5 The Big Picture
Final Exam
Tuesday, May 10, 2:00 - 5:00

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