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
Workshop on Data Science for Democracy at Johns Hopkins University
Our friends at the SNF Agora Institute and the Applied Math Department at Johns Hopkins…
Bruce Boghosian, IMD Affiliate & Mathematics Professor at Tufts University, Spent the Summer Teaching Math and Politics
Bruce Boghosian is an IMD affiliate and mathematics professor at Tufts University. He spent his summer teaching…
Alison Strole, Middle School Math Teacher and an IMD Affiliate, Teaches Math and Politics
Alison Strole, a middle school math teacher from Fishers, IN, has for many years been…
Presenting the speakers for our May 15 conference on Mathematics and Politics
IMD will host a virtual conference Math and Politics: Numeracy at the Ballot Box on Saturday, May…
IMD Modules in Action
When you picture students excitedly participating in discussions of gerrymandering and equity, the logic of…
Math and Politics Course for Spring 2021
IMD co-founder Professor Ismar Volić will be teaching the course MATH 123 Math and Politics…
