Mathematics appears in scores of political contexts that college students, high-schoolers, and even younger students can understand. Subjects like voting, apportionment, and gerrymandering are accessible and perfect for transdisciplinary learning since they occupy a unique place in the intersection of mathematics, statistics, computer science, political science, economics, and history. These topics have unparalleled import on democracy while being conspicuously absent from our schools.
One of IMD’s goals is to remedy this problem. We develop curricula, train teachers, and create teaching modules that foster both political quantitative literacy and the understanding of how mathematics governs many democratic processes.
Contact us to learn how IMD can bring topics like these to your classroom:
- Mathematics of the Electoral College
- Voting – plurality, ranked choice, cardinal and other methods
- Apportionment
- Impossibility theorems
- Gerrymandering – efficiency gap and compactness scores
- Quantification of power
- Game theory – conflict, bargaining, and negotiation
- Number theory of cryptography and its regulation
- Graph theory of networks and voter manipulation
- Statistics in politics
IMD Affiliate Presents the Annual Heard Lecture on Computational Social Choice at Wellesley’s Mathematics Department
The annual Martha Davenport Heard Lecture will take place on February 15th, 2024, at Wellesley's…
IMD Co-founder Stanley Chang Speaks about Voting Methods at a Houston, TX High School
Earlier this November, IMD Co-Founder Dr. Stanley Chang visited Episcopal High School’s Math Club and…
Talk “Democracy and the Pursuit of Randomness” by Ariel Procaccia at Wellesley
The Institute for Mathematics and Democracy is excited to present our first event of the…
Summer 2023 in Review: IMD High School Research Program
This summer, IMD welcomed high school students Aaron Wasielewski, Andrei Volić, Caroline Cordts, Emily Pallan,…
IMD Workshop with the Boston Ranked Choice Summer Youth Internship Program
Earlier this week, IMD co-founders Prof. Ismar Volić and Prof. Stanley Chang visited the Ranked…
Summer 2023 Undergraduate Summer Research at IMD
Undergraduate summer research at IMD is in full swing, with several Wellesley College students continuing…
