Sci199Y ---
Strategy, Voting, Power and Proof
Professor: Mary Pugh, mpugh@math. utoronto.ca
Office hours:
by appointment. Please email.
Office location: room 3141, Earth Sciences Centre,
22 Russell Street
If you're going to send me email, please include "sci199" in the
subject line. Otherwise, there's a good chance my spam filter
will filter your email.
The textbook
is
"Mathematics and politics: strategy, voting, power
and proof" by Alan Taylor.
You should buy the book from the campus
bookstore. It should be relatively cheap. If you can't afford it,
you can buy a used copy from
abebooks.com. Also, there
are two copies at Robarts and one at the Math library. The
call number is JA77.T39 1995X .
It's three in the morning. How can you find that
journal article you need?
In this course, you may find yourself wanting to look up articles
that are referred to by the book. For example, the chapter on the
dollar auction refers to a
1971 article by Martin Shubik
and a
1986 article by Barry O'Neill. These are interesting articles --- you
should read over the introductions and conclusions, if you have time.
Note: if you're not UofT affiliated (and hence wouldn't have access to this article
through our e-resources) then you are violating copyright law if you look at these articles.
How did I find these articles? (How should you find these articles
when you need to?)
First, I made sure that I could access the university's resources even
though I was at home. When I'm at home, I look like some random
person with a sympatico account and I had to do something to inform
the University system that I have a right to look at University
resources. How did I do this? Go to the Library's web-page on
my.access and learn how.
Note: if you're at a dorm computer it may be that you're automatically
trusted, so before going too far, try to access the university's
resources and try my.access only if you fail.
Now that you have access to the university's resources, go to
the library's
main web-page. On the left, you'll see a link
for e-Resources.
Click on it.
Now, click on
e-Journals & Preprints.
If you're looking for Shubik's article, you know you're looking
for an article in the Journal of Conflict Resolution.
So type "conflict resolution" in the search window.
You see the journal and
click on its title.
Now you go to "search this journal". If you search on
Shubik as the author, you'll find seven articles, one of
which is the one you're looking for. You can now view
and print the article!
Welcome to the glorious world of research! You have access to
a wealth of information via these electronic resources. Use them
happily and plentifully. But remember that if you let your friends
or family use them, then you're stealing just as much as if you
were to steal cable or towels from a hotel. These resources cost
the UofT lots of money and are
provided for people affiliated with the UofT.
Voting
How should we vote?
Here's a recent article from the New York Times about different
voting schemes.
Note: if you're not UofT affiliated (and hence wouldn't have access to this article
through our e-resources) then you are violating copyright law if you look at this article.
Woes in the European Union
What's
the big deal?
What was agreed upon in
Nice?
What's the "double majority" they refer to?
"A double majority means that decisions must be approved by at least 50 percent of the member countries and that these countries must represent at least 60 percent of the EU population. Poland and Spain have voiced their opposition to the planned double majority voting system. They would like to retain the voting system agreed on in Nice under which they each have nearly as many votes as Germany even though their populations are only about half as large."
Bloc-like voting in the US.
Here's a really cool website that Hibo found. It considers
large-scale voting patterns in the US.
A quick way to compute power indices
Here's a
sweet website
that Byoung Jun found. It computes four
power indices for you.
Proportional Voting in Canada
Here's a Globe and Mail
article which describes a recent report on electoral reform
in Canada.
And here's the Law Commission of Canada
report it's describing.
Here's
a column
by a UofT law professor about
proportional voting versus "first past the post" voting.
Game Theory
Good News, Everybody!
Game theory is
everywhere! Check out all these places where it shows up.
It even shows up in
South Park.
Some of the links are out of date but since they provide bibliographic
references and since you're at a university, you can probably track down
whatever you want...
S.J. Brams
has written a wide variety of books where he applied game theory methods
in different arenas. Have a look at this
list of books
and see if
any intrigue you. And then go to the library!
Today's the Superbowl... Here's a New York Times
article about game theory analysis
of strategy in football.
(Note: if you're not UofT affiliated, and hence wouldn't have access to this article
through our e-resources, then you are violating copyright law if you look at this article.
)
And here's the
article by David Romer
being referred to.
Some
political applications of Game Theory to Radical Religious Militias, to language-learning
among immigrants, to environmental regulation, to Ultra-Orthodox Jews.
the Yom Kippur War Our book has a short overview of the Yom Kippur War. Here
are some additional readings. Read them
with a grain of salt.
Here's what the
Federation of American
Scientists has to say.
Here's a long and in no way unbiased
article
by a former member of the Knesset.
Here are some summaries:
one ,
two , and
three.
Here's a really nice
timeline.
And finally, here are two things that every educated person should know about:
detente and
cold war.
Rock, Paper, Scissors Need some practice? Here's
a
computer you can play against. Also, here's the
World Rock Paper Scissors Society.
Here's a New York Times story about competing
in a Rock Paper Scissors
competition.
And Here's one about two auction houses playing Rock Paper Scissors
to see
who'll win the rights
to auction off a multi-million dollar
art collection.
(Note: if you're not UofT affiliated, and hence wouldn't have access to this article
through our e-resources, then you are violating copyright law if you look at this article.
)
Auctions
A short and somewhat vague article on
one approach to auctions.
Here's information on
four types of auctions.
And here's a New York Times article about an
interesting way to do well bidding on EBay...
Note: if you're not UofT affiliated (and hence wouldn't have access to this article
through our e-resources) then you are violating copyright law if you look at this article.
Vickrey's 1961 article
Here's the origin of the
Vickrey Auction. Of course, Mr Vickrey didn't call it that himself. :-)
Note: if you're not UofT affiliated (and hence wouldn't have access to this article
through our e-resources) then you are violating copyright law if you look at this article.
Dutch Auctions in the News
Here's a recent New York Times article about the
Aalsmeer flower auction
in the Netherlands. Make sure to go visit it when you're in Amsterdam!
Note: if you're not UofT affiliated (and hence wouldn't have access to this article
through our e-resources) then you are violating copyright law if you look at this article.
Hey Ya!
Mathematics in the "real world" Here is a
collection of columns
by Ivar Peterson. They're very readable and may give you some ideas to follow.
What is "behavioral economics"?
Here
is a New York Times article about it.
Note: if you're not UofT affiliated (and hence wouldn't have access to this article
through our e-resources) then you are violating copyright law if you look at this article.
Tips on Writing Research Articles
Check out
the following page. In the middle of the second paragraph
is a linke to "logical structure". Look here
for a good skeleton.
Pay attention to the left of the two columns --- introduction,
methodology, results, and conclusions & discussions. The right
column isn't quite so relevant; it has to do w/ the wrapping of
the entire thing.
For my satisfaction, you would do:
title
author
left column of stuff from the "logical structure" page
references
appendices
If you were submitting the article to a journal, you'd have to do more
of the stuff in the right column. Also, on the left of the webpage
there are links to various things. Of especial use are "RULES FOR RA
SECTIONS" and "MORE LINKS".
Welcome to University! Here are some tips.
Exercise and eat properly.
Make sure to get at least seven hours of
sleep
a night.
Find some study buddies. Talk to your classmates --- they're
here to help you and you them.
My friend Mark has some very good
study tips for Calculus.
His advice holds for pretty much all classes.
If test-taking generally makes you nervous, have a look at the
test-taking brochure from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. They also have brochures on
other aspects of student life
--- have a look --- they're soundly written.
For something more than brochures, the University of Toronto has a
counselling and learning skills centre.