Belmont’s Mathematical Musings & Munchings (MM&M) focused on mathematics and democracy this month as Dr. Mike Pinter, professor of mathematics and director of Belmont’s Teaching Center, presented “Voting Schemes: Is Ranking a Good Alternative to “Vote for One”?” on Wed., Oct. 19. During this interactive session, participants explored several voting methods and considered the advantages and shortcomings of each. Pinter also presented examples from recent years, including a vote about voting in Great Britain and U.S. Presidential elections since 1992.
Grayson Carroll, Belmont computer science alumnus, entrepreneur, and technologist, presented “The Intersection of Data and Politics” on Wed., Oct. 26. The political world is inundated with data. Between open government data sets detailing votes, committee membership and campaign contribution and the vast swathes of data that the government has, the political process is driven by data. Carroll discussed the data open to citizens to help us stay informed, as well as the data politicians use to optimize their campaign process.