Daily Assignments
Week 1: Voting Systems
June 30: Mathematical Reasoning
- Please read the syllabus
- Read Chapter 1 sections 1.0–1.3 of The Mathematics of Politics.
- See also section 1.1.1–1.1.3 of the online notes
July 1: Two-Candidate Elections
- Read chapter 1 section 1.0 and think carefully about the questions involved.
- Think about a few criteria you can use to decide whether voting systems are good or not. Think about general-purpose rules that can rule out some of the sillier systems we talked about in class on Monday.
- Read Chapter 1 sections 1.4–1.5 of The Mathematics of Politics.
- See also section 1.1.4–1.1.5 of the online notes
July 2: Multi-Candidate Voting Systems
- Submit Homework 1 in class.
- Read sections 2.1–2.4 of The Mathematics of Politics.
- See also section 1.2.1 of the online notes
July 3: Voting System Criteria
- Submit Homework 2 in class.
- Read sections 3.1–3.3 of The Mathematics of Politics.
- See also section 1.2.2 of the online notes
Week 2: Evaluating Voting Systems
July 7: Evaluating Voting Systems I
- Submit Homework 3 in class.
July 8: Evaluating Voting Systems II
- Homework 4 due
- Read sections 4.1–4.3 of The Mathematics of Politics.
- See also section 1.3.3–4 of the online notes
July 9: Arrow’s Theorem
- Submit Homework 5 in class.
- Read chapter 5 of The Mathematics of Politics.
- See also section 1.4 of the online notes
July 10: Test 1
- Submit Homework 6 in class.
- You may bring a one-sided, handwritten cheat sheet on letter-size or A4-size paper.
Week 3: Methods of Apportionment
July 14: Apportionment
- Read chapter 7.1-3 of The Mathematics of Politics.
- See also section 2.1.1-2.1.3 of the online notes
July 15: Hamilton’s Method
- Read chapter 7.4 and 8.1-8.3 of The Mathematics of Politics.
- See also section 2.1.4 and 2.2 of the online notes
July 16: Divisor Methods
- Homework 7 due Wednesday July 16
- Read the rest of chapter 8 of The Mathematics of Politics.
- See also the rest of section 2.2 of the online notes
July 17: Divisor Methods II
- Homework 7 due Thursday July 17
Week 4: Advanced Apportionment Theorems
July 21: Evaluating Apportionment Methods
- Homework 9 due Monday July 21
July 22: Apportionment Impossibility Theorem
- Homework 10 due Tuesday July 22
July 23: Balinski and Young Method
- Homework 11 due Wednesday July 23
July 24: Test 2
- Homework 12 due Monday July 28
- But do as much as you can for Thursday July 24 to prep for the test
Week 5: Zero-Sum Game Theory
July 28: Strategies and Outcomes
- Homework 12 due Monday July 28
- But do as much as you can for Thursday July 24 to prep for the test
July 29: Zero-Sum Games
July 30: Chance and Expectation
- Homework 13 due Wednesday July 30
July 31: Solving Zero-Sum Games
- Homework 14 due Thursday July 31
Week 6: Non-Zero-Sum Games
August 4: Conflict and Cooperation
- Homework 15 due Monday August 4
August 5: Nash Equilibria
- Homework 16 due Monday August 5
August 6: The Electoral College and Gerrymandering
August 7: Final Exam
- Homework 18 to prepare for final. Don’t turn in!
Syllabus
The course syllabus is available here.
Course notes
Homework
- Homework 1 due Wednesday July 2
- Homework 2 due Thursday July 3
- Homework 3 due Monday July 7
- Homework 4 due Tuesday July 8
- Homework 5 due Wednesday July 9
- Homework 6 due Thursday July 10
- Homework 7 due Wednesday July 16
- Homework 8 due Thursday July 17
- Homework 9 due Monday July 21
- Homework 10 due Tuesday July 22
- Homework 11 due Wednesday July 23
- Homework 12 due Monday July 28
- But do as much as you can for Thursday July 24 to prep for the test
- Homework 13 due Wednesday July 30
- Homework 14 due Thursday July 31
- Homework 15 due Monday August 4
- Homework 16 due Tuesday August 5
- Homework 17 due Wednesday August 6
- Homework 18 to prepare for final. Don’t turn in!
Tests
- Test 1 on July 10
- Test 2 on July 24
- Final Exam on August 7
Calculators of any sort will not be allowed on tests. I will allow you to bring a cheat sheet in your own handwriting. For midterms I will allow a one-sided cheat sheet, and for the final I will allow a two-sided cheat sheet.
Textbook
The official textbook for Math 1007 is The Mathematics of Politics, Second Edition by E. Arthur Robinson and Daniel H. Ullman. It should be available free online through the library website, and you can buy a hard copy for under $50 if you wish. I will be expecting you to read sections of the textbook and assigning problems out of it.