Apportionment Research Paper Over the course of the semester, I learned about numerous topics in this math class. All the areas studied showed to be useful in everyday life. From studying sets to studying fractals, I am able to see where these concepts can be applied. One particular lesson that I enjoyed was learning about voting systems, specifically the apportionment method. After seeing that two plans between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, I was drawn to the Hamilton plan. Through further research, I learned additional information and examples about Hamilton’s plan. Apportionment is the process of taking a whole and dividing it into parts. According to the US Legal website, it states: Apportionment is the process by which legislative …show more content…
The website also states: According to the U.S. Constitution, a census is conducted every ten years and on the basis of the census report, Congress apportions representatives according to population. Each state must have at least one representative. Apportionment is one of the most useful methods when doing the census. Apportionment in politics is different in every country. Apportionment is used in countries other than American, but go by different names. For example, in Britain, apportionment is known as delimitation. The US Legal website gives insight on apportionment in America. It states: In the U.S., the Constitution apportionment is made differently between the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each state is represented by two seats in the Senate. In the House of Representatives, seats are apportioned among the states based on the relative population of each state to the total population of the union. Apportionment is presented in different voting situations in politics. When the class was taught about apportionment, the Hamilton method is what interested me the most. Cut The Know website …show more content…
There is a fictional country of Andromeda with 5 states a total population of 20,000. The 5 states are Apus with a population of 11,123, Libra with a population of 879, Draco with a population of 3518, Cephus with a population of 1563, and Orion with a population of 2917. The country wants 25 representatives to be chosen from each state. First the standard divisor is calculated. The total population of 20,000 is divided by the number of people to apportion, which are 25. The standard divisor equals 800. Next the quotient of each state is found. Each states total is divided by the standard divisor. The results will be ≈13.904 for Apus, ≈1.099 for Libra, ≈4.398 for Draco, ≈1.954 for Cephus, and ≈3.646 for Orion. Each number should be rounded down to get the standard quota. The standard quota will be 13 for Apus, 1 for Libra, 4 for Draco 1 for Cephus, and 3 for Orion. The total number of the standard quota will be 22 representatives. There needs to be 25 representatives meaning there needs to be 3 more. The 3 representatives will be added to the states with the first highest decimal remainder then the second highest and so on. The first highest decimal remainder is 1.954 for Draco. The standard quota will now become two. The next highest decimal remainder is 13.904 for Apus. The standard quota will now become 14. The third highest decimal remainder is