{"id":795,"date":"2018-08-01T20:00:44","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T20:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/labmath.org\/?p=795"},"modified":"2018-08-03T21:11:01","modified_gmt":"2018-08-03T21:11:01","slug":"can-geometry-rescue-representative-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/?p=795","title":{"rendered":"Can Geometry Rescue Representative Government?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-801\" alt=\"da_fig1\" src=\"http:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig1.jpg\" width=\"660\" height=\"385\" srcset=\"https:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig1.jpg 660w, https:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig1-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:90%;\">Left: Cartoon by Elkanah Tisdale from the March 26, 1812 edition of the Federalist-leaning paper The Boston Gazette showing the Massachusetts district newly created to favor the Jeffersonian Republicans in upcoming elections. Right: the wing and clawless version of the map. \u00a0Thinking the actual district looked like a salamander, an editor at the paper declared the creature a Gerry-mander, after Eldridge Gerry, the Governor who signed the redistricting bill into law.\u00a0That it is drawn as a dragon is, I believe, another level of editorializing, or just a miscommunication between editor and illustrator, rather than zoological confusion.\u00a0Source:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.articlethefirst.net\" target=\"_blank\">Article the First<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/13178581524052821016\" target=\"_blank\">Stan Klos<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In 2016, Moon Duchin, along with Mira Bernstein, Ari Nieh, Justin Solomon, and Michael Sarahan, created the METRIC GEOMETRY AND GERRYMANDERING GROUP. \u00a0<a title=\"MGGG\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.tufts.edu\/gerrymandr\/summerschool\/who-we-are\/\" target=\"_blank\">MGGG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Anna Nowogrodzki, writing for\u00a0Tufts Now, the newsletter of Tufts University where Drs. Duchin and Bernstein are on the faculty, introduces the group:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The esoteric world of pure math doesn\u2019t usually play much of a role in promoting fairness in the U.S. political system, but Tufts mathematicians\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/mduchin.math.tufts.edu\/\">Moon Duchin<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sites.tufts.edu\/mirabernstein\/\">Mira Bernstein<\/a>\u00a0believe that needs to change. It is math, they say, that could help overcome gerrymandering\u2014the practice of drawing legislative districts that favor one party, class or race.&#8221; \u00a0Source: Tufts Now 19 July 2018.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-803\" alt=\"da_fig2\" src=\"http:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig2.jpg\" width=\"660\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig2.jpg 660w, https:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig2-300x218.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a>Gerrymandering in theory (source: Siva Narayan)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-805\" alt=\"da_fig3\" src=\"http:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig3.jpg\" width=\"660\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig3.jpg 660w, https:\/\/labmath.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/da_fig3-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><\/a>Gerrymandering in practice (source: District 7, PA:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Left: Cartoon by Elkanah Tisdale from the March 26, 1812 edition of the Federalist-leaning paper The Boston Gazette showing the Massachusetts district newly created to favor the Jeffersonian Republicans in upcoming elections. Right: the wing and clawless version of the map. \u00a0Thinking the actual district looked like a salamander, an editor at the paper declared [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811,"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions\/811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labmath.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}