Math and Politics Course for Spring 2021

IMD co-founder Professor Ismar Volić will be teaching the course MATH 123 Math and Politics in Term 3. This class will examine the mathematics behind voting, apportionment, quantification of power, and gerrymandering. Broader topics such as correlation and causation, fairness, conflict, social choice, and game theory will also be examined through the prism of mathematics and politics. The goal of the course is to illustrate the importance of rigorous reasoning in various political processes while providing an introduction to some fascinating mathematics. This aligns with IMD’s mission of raising awareness of the many ways mathematics plays a role in politics and providing an education that empowers students to become effective, quantitatively literate participants in the democratic process.