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Bob
Posts:
182
Registered:
12/3/04
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RE: When am I ever gonna use this?
Posted:
Nov 4, 2012 10:09 PM
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The poll worker seems to have single digit odd/even numbers down pretty well. We're not sure about two digit numbers, like 54 and 45. But things do get interesting when three digits are involved -- I guess his issue is not knowing that the digit in the one's place determines whether a number is even or odd.
-----Original Message----- From: owner-nysmsmath@mathforum.org [mailto:owner-nysmsmath@mathforum.org] On Behalf Of Jerrykap Sent: Sunday, November 04, 2012 4:01 PM To: nysmsmath@mathforum.org Cc: nysmsmath@mathforum.org; nyshsmath@mathforum.org Subject: Re: When am I ever gonna use this?
And what happens if the house number is, say, 45? Or 54?
>From iPad Jerry
On Nov 4, 2012, at 2:45 PM, Evan Romer <evanromer@gmail.com> wrote:
> Another example of why it's important to learn math. > > Suppose you're a poll worker in Ohio (sort of an important state for > this election). The polling place where you're assigned serves two > different precincts, so each voter has to be given a ballot for the > correct precinct depending on where the voter lives. (If the wrong > ballot is used, the voter's ballot gets invalidated.) > > For this polling location, the dividing line for the two precincts runs down the middle of Maple Street: odd street numbers vote in precinct A, even street numbers in precinct B. So when a voter living on Maple Street comes in and asks for a ballot, YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEIR STREET ADDRESS IS ODD OR EVEN: > > (from http://electionlawblog.org/?p=29505 ) > > > Does the Equal Protection Clause or Due Process clause of the U.S. > > Constitution require that the Board, having done so, also count > > other ballots cast by voters in the wrong precinct but at the correct location? The district court said yes. > > > > The problem of poll worker error is one which has not gotten enough > > attention and needs to get more attention. This excerpt from the opinion poignantly illustrates the issue: > > > > In at least one instance, a poll worker appeared to be unable to distinguish between > > even and odd numbers. When asked whether the house number 798 was even > > or odd, the poll worker responded: > > > > A. Odd. > > Q. And why do you think that?s odd? I?m sorry. Why do you think her address is an odd address? > > A. Because it begins with an odd number. > > Q. It starts with an odd number? > > A. Yes. Nine is an odd number. Eight?s even. > > . . . > > Q. . . . So on Election Day, if somebody came in with an address 798 and you had two > > ranges to choose from, you would choose the odd for them? > > A. Yes. > > Q. Okay. And is that how you did it for all the ballots that you looked up on Election Day? > > A. To determine if they were even ? yes. > > Q. To determine if they were even or odd, you looked at the first digit of the address? > > A. No. I looked at the whole address. > > Q. And you chose however many ? if there were more odds than even numbers, it > > would be an odd address? > > A. Yes. > > Evan Romer > Susquehanna Valley HS > Conklin NY > > ******************************************************************* > * To unsubscribe from this mailing list, email the message > * "unsubscribe nysmsmath" to majordomo@mathforum.org > * > * Read prior posts and download attachments from the web archives at > * http://mathforum.org/kb/forum.jspa?forumID=672 > ******************************************************************* ******************************************************************* * To unsubscribe from this mailing list, email the message * "unsubscribe nysmsmath" to majordomo@mathforum.org * * Read prior posts and download attachments from the web archives at * http://mathforum.org/kb/forum.jspa?forumID=672 ******************************************************************* ******************************************************************* * To unsubscribe from this mailing list, email the message * "unsubscribe nyshsmath" to majordomo@mathforum.org * * Read prior posts and download attachments from the web archives at * http://mathforum.org/kb/forum.jspa?forumID=671 *******************************************************************
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