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 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…
2020-2021 Fellows Program at IMD
The 2020-21 Fellows Program is underway! This year's fellows are Wellesley students, Shreya Parjan '21,…
Students create teaching modules for mathematics and politics
For their final projects in the Mathematics and Politics class taught at Wellesley College this summer,…
Summer course in mathematics and politics
Wellesley College will be offering a course on Mathematics and Politics as part of its…
Mathematics and democracy at the University of Sarajevo
Institute for Mathematics and Democracy’s Ismar Volić will be teaching a course on mathematics and…
