What we know, what we don't, and where we're going
Every ten years, the Census Bureau conducts the Census, a nation-wide tallying of every single individual living in the United States. In addition to helping governments and researchers manage land, understand population trends, and distribute resources, the Census is essential to a key democratic function: drawing electoral districts. The process of drawing electoral districts, called “redistricting,” divides every state in the United States into non-overlapping pieces with approximately equal population. Using math to help us better understand redistricting and its human impacts – especially considering different practices, rules, and demographics across the country – is a particularly attractive approach, but proves exceedingly difficult. In this talk, we’ll discuss the timeline of math’s relationship with redistricting, contemporary methods, unsolved problems, and a hopeful outlook for the coming year.
Speaker
Anthony Pizzimenti, Data Scientist, Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group (University of Iowa graduate)
Location:
SH 176 and Online (See url)
Hosts:
Praneel Samanta & Nitesh Mathur (UI Mathematics)
GAUSS will meet Tuesdays at 3:30-4:20 PM in Fall 2021.