Title: Political numeracy : mathematical perspectives on our chaotic constitution /
Authors: Meyerson, Michael.
Publisher: Norton,
Year: 2002
Subjects: Mathematics Social aspects; United States Politics and government.; United States Politics and government.
Abstract: "Meyerson shows how the principle of probability played an important role in the seemingly contradictory decisions in the criminal and civil trials of O.J. Simpson. He also makes a convincing case for the mathematical virtues of the electoral college, despite the drama of the presidential election of 2000, uses game theory to explain the constantly shifting balance of power among the three branches of our federal government, relates the concept of infinity to the ongoing heated debate over abortion, and uses topology and chaos theory to explain why our Constitution has managed thus far to survive the turmoil of social and political change in America."
Contents: Logic (healthy and ill) -- Majority rules -- The positive value of consensus -- The first veto -- What does equality equal? -- Game theory and the constitution -- Multidimensional thinking -- Infinity and the constitution -- The incomplete constitution -- Constitutional chaos -- The mathematics of limits -- The limits of mathematics.