A MATHEMATICAL LOOK AT POLITICS

With record voter turnouts for the 2008 presidential election, interest in the U.S. electoral system and voting (especially among college students) has never been higher. This textbook is based on a popular mathematics and politics course that the authors have taught at George Washington University for the past six years. It explores the mathematics of politics, showing how mathematical reasoning is connected to the pressing issues of contemporary politics and in the liberal arts. Focusing on voting, apportionment, conflict, and the Electoral College, each part of the text examines a type of decision problem and a way to solve it.