Re: What is the mathematics behind districting?

There is a somewhat related problem of apportioning congresional seats
among the states. The House of Representatives has a fixed size, 435
members, and after each census these are apportioned among the states,
in proportion to their population, with an additional proviso that each
state has at least one seat. The algorithm for doing this evolved over
the years, and has a fair amount of mathematics. MAA Monthly has
published numerous accounts of this in the past. Just recalling from
memory, Saari had an article there on the subject about 1980, and there
was another article quite recently, maybe a couple of years ago.

But, it is a different problem from what Chris is asking.


Vladimir Drobot

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