m10D

MATH 10D
The Mathematics of Democracy

Instructor: Dave Bachman
Office:              Avery 220
Office hours:   M, W 9-10, and by appointment
Office phone: (909) 607-7961 ...but don't bother
Email:          bachman@pitzer.edu
Web:                http://pzacad.pitzer.edu/~dbachman/m10D/syllabus.html (this page)

Class Format: This will be a synchronous on-line class. Students in very different time zones will have to make arrangements to be present during class. Cameras will be expected to be turned on during class time, to encourage face-to-face interaction. Students who have trouble with this (for example due to a non-working camera, lack of a private space during class time, etc) should discuss this with me. In-class lectures and special guest presentations will be recorded and posted, but much of class time will be spent in breakout rooms for which you will have to be (virtually) present to participate.

Text: There is no text for the class. Readings will be distributed from a wide variety of sources.

Homework: Most class days a homework assignment will be distributed which will be due by the start of the following class session. NO LATE HOMEWORK WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Projects: There will be two major projects for the class. Details will be provided as we get to them.

Grades: Class grades will be computed with the following weights: 20% Attendance, 40% Homework, 20% Project 1, 20% Project 2

Learning Outcomes: The three broad topics of this class are Apportionment, Voting Theory, and Gerrymandering. Upon completion of this class, students are expected to
    1. Have some sense of the history of Apportionment, Voting and Gerrymandering in the United States
    2. Know different choices for Apportionment, Voting and Gerrymandering systems
    3. Know the paradoxes that are inherent in each Apportionment and Voting system
    4. Understand the fact that such paradoxes are unavoidable
    5. Understand the geometric problems that Gerrymandering choices lead to.
    6. Be able to use tools of modern data science to help detect possible partisan Gerrymandering.

Tentative Schedule:

Date	Topic
8/26	Overview of US Government, Apportionment Systems & Paradoxes
9/2	Apportionment Impossibilities and Fairness
9/9	Unequal Voting Power
9/16	Voting Systems
9/23	Arrow's Theorem
9/30	Committee Selection + Tommy Ratliff talk
10/7	Project 1 Presentations, Seats-Votes Curve and Proportionality
10/14	Packing & Cracking, measures of compactness + Eric McGhee talk
10/21	Kelsey Kauffman talk & Efficiency Gap, Weird districts
10/28	The Voting Right Act, Paul Mitchell talk, Project 2 assignments
11/4	Outlier Analysis, Ensemble sampling methods
11/11	Efficiency Gap vs Polsby-Popper
11/18	Project 2 Presentations