Approx. Ages 11-17 | Fall 2024

Priority registration for prior participants: through Friday, August 23. Registration opens for new students on August 24 if spots remain.

Why have some places banned Ranked Choice Voting? Wait… what exactly is ranked choice voting? What are the pros and cons of this and other methods such as plurality, the Borda count, the GPA method, approval voting, and multi-round voting? Is it possible to manipulate elections via choice of method? Can math be misused for political gain? Which methods prevent vote-splitting? Which method did Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) propose? We’ll explore these questions using mathematician Emily Riehl’s presentation from the National Math Festival, materials from the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy, and activities that other Math Circles and mathematicians have shared. Then we’ll apply Arrow’s Theorem and Saari’s Test to see whether it’s possible to determine with method is “best.” And, of course, we’ll discuss the math of the electoral college system.

The underlying mathematical topics in this course include number theory (specifically combinatorics) and problem solving. The mathematical practices include MP1 – Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, MP2 – Reason abstractly and quantitatively, MP3 – Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, MP4 – Model with mathematics, MP5 – Use appropriate tools strategically, MP6 – Attend to precision , MP7 – Look for and make use of structure, and MP8 – Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning of the Common Core Standards.

Tuition: $187.50
Lovett Park, 6945 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19119