Political Geometries: Graphs, Geometry, and Gerrymandering

Document Type

Presentation Abstract

Presentation Date

9-19-2022

Abstract

The problem of constructing "fair" political districts and the related problem of detecting intentional gerrymandering has received a significant amount of attention in recent years. Attempting to analyze these issues from a mathematical perspective leads to a wide variety of interesting problems in geometry, graph theory, and probability. In this talk, I will discuss recent work centered around Markov chain sampling of districting plans that has motivated theoretical questions in these fields, including designing proposal distributions, evaluating the computational complexity of sampling, and measuring the geometric and partisan properties of districts. Beyond the mathematical developments, this work has also appeared in court challenges, commission-based map making, and legislative reform efforts. I will discuss what it is like to participate in these outreach experiences as a mathematician and some of the related data and computational challenges.

Additional Details

September 19, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. Math 103

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