Syllabus: Mathematics and Politics
Course information
Course number: 550.103
Course discipline: Applied Mathematics
Course description: Examining interesting mathematical problems from the world of
politics including apportionment, resource allocation, voting, and conflict, this course is
designed for humanities and social science students who enjoy solving logic puzzles. (We
do not plan to discuss contemporary political topics, but rather mathematical issues
arising from the political process.)
Course dates: May 29, 2012 through June 29, 2012
Lecture location: Homewood Campus, TBA
Lecture meeting days: MTWR
Lecture meeting times: 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Prerequisites: none
Instructor information
Name: Matthew Sedlock
Office: Whitehead 211-C
Email: mSed84@jhu.edu, matthew.sedlock@gmail.com
Office hours: 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays or by appointment
Schedule
This course contains three main topics—Voting Theory, Apportionment Theory, and
Game Theory. We will try to follow the following schedule:
May 29-June 11: Voting Theory
June 12-June 20: Apportionment Theory
June 21-June 29: Game Theory
Policies
Homework: You are encouraged to work with others on the homework. However, you
should first attempt the problems on your own. Also, you must write up solutions
separately. Please give careful explanations of your solutions. Generally, I do not accept
late homework papers, but I will make exceptions if necessary.
Examinations: No collaboration is allowed. For take home exams, you can consult your
text book and lecture notes, but should not attempt to find solutions to problems via other
sources such as other textbooks, past solutions, or the internet.
Grading
Attendance: Students should attend class regularly. This will count for 5% of the total
grade.
Homework: There will be 8 homework assignments. This will count for 20% of the total
grade.
Quizzes: There will be short quizzes/short exercises throughout the course. This will
count for 10% of the total grade.
Examinations: There will be 2 midterm exams. Each will count for 20% of the total
grade. The first midterm exam will be on June 11 in class. The second midterm exam
will be take home, given on June 18 and due on June 20.
Final Exam: The final exam will be on the final day of class. This will count for 25% of
the total grade.
The grading scale for the course will be as follows:
98-100 A+
93-97 A
90-92 A87-89 B+
83-86 B
80-82 B77-79 C+
73-76 C
70-72 C67-69 D+
63-66 D
60-62 D59 or below F
Textbooks
A Mathematical Introduction to Politics, Daniel Ullman and E. Arthur Robinson
Students
Who should take this course?: This course is designed for students in the humanities and
the social sciences. Our goal is to apply the rigors of mathematical reasoning to problems
that arise in the political process, thereby introducing students to mathematical ideas and
techniques.
Students from the physical sciences, engineering, and mathematics are actively
discouraged from enrolling.
Ethics
Cheating is wrong. Cheating hurts our community by undermining academic integrity,
creating mistrust, and fostering unfair competition. The university will punish cheaters
with failure on an assignment, failure in a course, permanent transcript notation,
suspension, and/or expulsion. Offenses may be reported to medical, law, or other
professional or graduate schools when a cheater applies.
Violations can include cheating on exams, plagiarism, reuse of assignments without
permission, improper use of the Internet and electronic devices, unauthorized
collaboration, alteration of graded assignments, forgery and falsification, lying,
facilitating academic dishonesty, and unfair competition. Ignorance of these rules is not
an excuse.
For more information, see the guide on Academic Ethics for Undergraduates and the
Ethics Board web site.