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Math Teaching Resources for Election Day
Election Day in the U.S. this year falls on Tuesday,
6 November — and presents many opportunities for
teaching math.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) series
of "Math Here and Now" articles includes one entitled
"Elections in the United States." It provides an overview of
plurality voting, alternative methods, and — under "The
Math" — Arrow's Paradox, named after the Nobel prize-winning
economist who demonstrated the unfairness inherent in any
system of voting:
http://www.nctm.org/resources/content.aspx?id=7930
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PoW taking place: math problem-solving moment of the week
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"Juan V. from Eastside College Preparatory took Lauren's method
a step further, and did something I sure didn't think of (and
neither did anyone else, as far as I could see). I thought this
was pretty slick! It sure makes the problem seem like a lot
less work."
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- Annie, commenting on the Geometry PoW's latest solution
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http://mathforum.org/pows/solution.htm?publication=4132
How Close Were U.S. Presidential Elections?
http://www.mit.edu/~mi22295/elections.html
During his graduate studies in statistics, Mike Sheppard sifted
through every U.S. Presidential election in the nation's
history to answer this question: "What is the smallest number
of total votes that need to be switched from one candidate to
another, and from which states, to affect the outcome of the
election?" His research turned up a treasure trove of
voting data.
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PoW taking place: math problem-solving moment of the week
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"Artemisia D. from Lebanon Middle School used a unique method.
It's really cool when you can use what you understand about a
math idea to invent your own method for finding the answer.
Qing H. from High Peaks Elementary had a neat kind of
estimation in the Extra portion."
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- Max, commenting on Pre-Algebra PoW's latest solution
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http://mathforum.org/pows/solution.htm?publication=4130
The Electoral Map
http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/electoral-map
The New York Times offers an interactive Electoral Map that
assesses how states may vote for the presidency, based on
polling, previous election results, and state political
geography. It also lets you play out your own voting scenarios
with the click of a mouse.
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Now taking place: math education conversation of the day
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"I taught Applied Math 1, Sequential Course I and Sequential
Course II under this semester block system. One big difference
is I had 90 minute blocks PLUS I met with each class for an
additional 45 minutes 2 times in a 6 day cycle. It was really a
great system in that there was plenty of time to do in depth
investigations of topics as well as reteaching when necessary.
The students did really really well on the exams. It takes a
ton of planning to do a double period. You can't just lecture
for 2 periods straight... Another advantage was only having
45-50 students at a time. Much more time to focus on each
student, call parents, etc. I'm not sure what schools could
afford to run such a system anymore:("
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- Liz, posted to the secondary (grades 9-12) discussion group
of the Association of Math Teachers of New York State
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http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=7912860
List of Narrow Elections
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_narrow_elections
Wikipedia maintains a sortable list of close election results
at national and state level. To see the impact that every
single vote has, click the column headers to re-sort by vote
margin, percentage margin, or total votes cast.
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