MAT 1995 - VOTING, POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICEAND REDISTRICTING

credits: 3.0
MAT 1995 and PSC 1995 CO-REQUISITE. Given past, recent, and upcoming events across the country (e.g. political elections, Supreme Court decisions, etc.), the topics of voting, politics, redistricting, and social justice have become part of a national dialogue. The goal of this course is to see how these topics can be understood using both sociopolitical considerations and mathematical tools. Voting theory focuses on using voters’ preferences to determine the winner of an election given various voting methods. As will be seen, different voting methods can lead to different election outcomes, even if the voters’ preferences remain the same. Fair division theory focuses on dividing up a geometric shape in a fair way that takes into consideration the (possibly different) preferences of each group. Redistricting refers to the process of using current population data to divide a map into districts so that each district has a compact and contiguous shape and contains approximately the same number of people. The course will culminate in an in-depth study of redistricting, where students will use numerical and geometric information, as well as social justice and political considerations, to create their own definition of fairness for redistricting (since there is no agreed upon definition of fair). Student collaboration, exploration, and discovery, as well as written and oral communication, will be important features of the course. Technology will be used for computations and visualization. Objectives: A) Use numerical voter preference tables to determine the winner given a number of different voting methods; B) Use visual preference diagrams to determine a fair division for three parties; C) Describe the process of redistricting for voting districts; D) Define racial gerrymandering and partisan gerrymandering and describe some of the sociopolitical issues surrounding the topic of redistricting; E) Summarize recent, past, and upcoming Supreme Court cases concerning gerrymandering; F) Use mathematics to determine how to redistrict simplified maps given numerical and geometric constraints; G) Use technology to determine how to redistrict more complicated maps given numerical and geometric constraints; H) Synthesize numerical information, geometric information, and sociopolitical considerations to create a personal measure of fairness with regard to gerrymandering. Method of Instruction: Mini-lectures, individual and small group work, and informal and formal student presentations. Method of Evaluation: Reading-Writing Assignments 20%, Quizzes 10%, Written Homework Assignments 15%, Exam One and Exam Two (in-class and take-home parts, higher exam score worth 20%, lower exam score worth 10%) 30%, and Gerrymandering Project (written report and oral presentation) 25%.

Co-Requisite(s): MAT and PSC 1995