Mathematics and Politics: Strategy, Voting, Power, and Proof / Edition 2

by Alan D. Taylor, Allison M. Pacelli

Overview

Why would anyone bid $3. 25 in an auction where the prize is a single dollar bill? Can one “game” explain the apparent irrationality behind both the arms race of the 1980s and the libretto of Puccini’s opera Tosca? How can one calculation suggest the president has 4 percent of the power in the United States federal system while another s- gests that he or she controls 77 percent? Is democracy (in the sense of reffecting the will of the people) impossible? Questionslikethesequitesurprisinglyprovideaveryniceforumfor some fundamental mathematical activities: symbolic representation and manipulation, model–theoretic analysis, quantitative represen- tionandcalculation,anddeductionasembodiedinthepresentationof mathematical proof as convincing argument. We believe that an ex- sure to aspects of mathematics such as these should be an integral part of a liberal arts education. Our hope is that this book will serve as a text for freshman-sophomore level courses, aimed primarily at students in the humanities and social sciences, that will provide this sort of exposure. A number of colleges and universities already have interdisciplinary freshman seminars where this could take place. Most mathematics texts for nonscience majors try to show that mathematics can be applied to many different disciplines. A student’s viii PREFACE interest in a particular application, however, often depends on his or her general interest in the area in which the application is taking place. Our experience at Union College and Williams College has been that there is a real advantage in having students enter the course knowing that virtually all the applications will focus on a single discipline—in this case, political science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441926616
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	10/29/2010
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 2nd ed. 2009
Pages:	364
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Social Choice.- Yes–No Voting.- Political Power.- Conflict.- Fairness.- Escalation.- More Social Choice.- More Yes–No Voting.- More Political Power.- More Conflict.- More Fairness.- More Escalation.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews of the second edition:

“Mathematics and Politics is the fruit of undergraduate mathematics courses taught by the authors. The primary audience is political and social science majors. … The writing style is appropriate for the intended audience with the understanding that the students/readers have some familiarity with political science economics or sociology. … Overall the book serves as a useful quantitative introduction to several of the covered topics. … Faculty in the social sciences should strongly consider Mathematics and Politics as a resource/reference.” (J. Douglas Barrett, Technometrics, Vol. 53 (1), February, 2011)

“It is intended to serve as a text for social science and humanities students that will highlight the power and utility of mathematics. … if you are considering a course as described above, this textbook deserves to be the one that will entice you into taking the plunge. And if you simply want to educate yourself in areas of social science mathematics that have only recently started to get the attention they deserve, Mathematics and Politics deserves your strong consideration.” (Edward W. Packel, SIAM Review, Vol. 52 (4), 2010)

From the Publisher