MA 391:  Math and Politics
Fall 2022, MWF 12-12:50
Whitehall Classroom Building 335-CB

Instructor:  Dave Jensen
Office:  POT 733
Office Hours:  MF 10-11:30 (remote)
Email:  dave.h.jensen@gmail.com

Syllabus

Schedule for the semester
Date Reading Assignment
Social Choice
8/22 No reading, first day of class
8/24 Top 5 Ways Plurality Voting Fails No Assignment
8/26 Mathematics and Politics, Sections 1.1-1.4, pp 1-13
8/29 Advocates of various voting systems: instant runoff, range voting, approval voting
8/31 Mathematics and Politics, Sections 1.7-1.9, pp 28-35 Problem Set 1
9/2 Ultrafilters and Social Choice
9/5 NO CLASS - LABOR DAY
Apportionment and The Electoral College
9/7 What is the Electoral College?, National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Essay 1
9/9 Stuck at 435 Representatives?
9/12 The Case for Massively Expanding the US House of Representatives
9/14 Apportionment, Methods of Apportionment
9/16 No Reading 
9/19 Mathematics and Politics, Sections 5.1-5.4, pp 152-159 Problem Set 2 
Gerrymandering
9/21 Shape, Chapter 14, pp 340-362 Essay 2
9/23 Shape, Chapter 14, pp 362-385
9/26 Geometry v Gerrymandering
9/28 Shape, Chapter 14, pp 386-410 Problem Set 3
9/30 Quantifying Gerrymandering in North Carolina
10/3 Amicus Brief of Mathematicians, Law Professors, and Students
Power
10/5 Mathematics and Politics, Sections 2.1-2.2, pp 49-52, Sections 3.1-3.3, pp 71-83 Essay 3
10/7 Mathematics and Politics, Sections 3.4-3.6, pp 83-98
10/10 Mathematics and Politics, Sections 9.1-9.2, pp 264-271
10/12 Mathematics and Politics, Section 9.3, pp 271-275 Problem Set 4
10/14 Mathematics and Politics, Sections 9.4-9.5, pp 275-285
Fair Division and Stable Marriage
10/17 The Heart of Mathematics, Chapter 10.5, pp 827-837
10/19 Rental Harmony: Sperner's Lemma in Fair Division, pp 1-7 Essay 4
10/21 No Reading  (okay, read Dinosaur Comics number 1345)
10/24 NO CLASS - FALL BREAK
10/26 Rental Harmony: Sperner's Lemma in Fair Division, pp 7-14 Problem Set 5
10/28 The Stable Marriage Problem and School Choice (Introduction and The Stable Marriage Problem)
10/31 The Stable Marriage Problem and School Choice (Optimal Stable Matches)
11/2 The Stable Marriage Problem and School Choice (Revealing One's True Preferences and Summary) Essay 5
Page Rank
11/4 No Reading
11/7 Linear Algebra in a Nutshell
11/9 Directed Graphs - Transition Matrices No Assignment
11/11 Page Rank Algorithms - The Mathematics of Google Search
11/14 How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News, Chapter 2, pp 17-40
11/16 How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News, Chapter 6, pp 119-136 Problem Set 6
11/18 How Algorithms Create and Prevent Fake News, Chapter 6, pp 137-150
Models and Algorithms
11/21 Weapons of Math Destruction, Chapter 1, pp 15-31
11/23 NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING
11/25 NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING
11/28 Weapons of Math Destruction, Chapter 4, pp 68-83
11/30 Weapons of Math Destruction, Chapter 5, pp 84-104 Essay 6
12/2 Weapons of Math Destruction, Chapter 6, pp 105-122
12/5 Weapons of Math Destruction, Chapter 8, pp 141-160
12/7 No Reading
Essay 7