MTH 107 Math in Society 3

An exploration of present-day applications of mathematics focused on developing numeracy. Major topics include at least three of the following: voting systems, methods of fair division, apportionment, networks, graph theory. MTH 105Z, 106, 107 may be taken in any order.

Credits

4

Prerequisite

Recommended: MTH 098 for students whose high-school GPA is less than 2.6 or who have not taken a math course for more than two years

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Define the fairness criteria for elections and determine which of the criteria a given voting system satisfies
2. Determine the outcome of a weighted voting system
3. Explain the meaning and importance of fairness criteria for election methods
4. Determine whether or not a particular apportionment falls prey to the New State paradox, the Population paradox, or the Alabama paradox
5. Explain the meaning and importance of fairness criteria for election methods
6. Determine whether or not a division is fair or envy-free
7. Collaborate with group members to discuss and explain class concepts, solve application problems, and propose new problems and scenarios
8. Reflect on successes, failures, and obstacles encountered in the problem-solving process
9. Assess mistakes and rework solutions on certain assignments
10. Construct and organize solutions in appropriate ways; clarify and explain thought process and solution
11. Justify solutions with appropriate graphics, examples, and mathematical arguments
12. Determine the winner of an election using a variety of different voting methods
13. Determine if a coalition is a winning or losing coalition
14. Use Euler's theorem to determine if a given graph contains an Euler path or an Euler circuit
15.Determine which of the fairness criteria a voting method satisfies
16. Determine the outcome of a weighted voting system
17. Determine a modified quota and modified divisor, given the size of the population and the number of seats to be apportioned
18. Determine whether or not a particular apportionment satisfies the Quota rule
19. Compute the Banzhaf power index of a weighted voting system
20. Fairly divide a quantity using divide-and-choose methods for two, three, or more players
21. Fairly divide a collection of objects
22. Apportion seats using a variety of methods
23. Find the minimal spanning trees of a given graph
24. Find approximate solutions to the traveling merchant problem