Alan D. Taylor

Mathematics and Politics (eBook, PDF)

Strategy, Voting, Power and Proof

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

interest in a particular application, however, often depends on his or hergeneralinterestintheareainwhichtheapplicationistakingplace. My experience at Union College has been that there is a real advan tage in having students enter the course knowing thatvirtually all the applications will focus on a single discipline-in this case, political science. The level ofpresentation assumes no college-level mathematicalor social science prerequisites. The philosophy underlying the approach we have taken in this book is based on the sense that we (mathemati cians)havetendedtomaketwoerrorsinteachingnonsciencestudents: wehaveoverestimatedtheircomfortwithcomputationalmaterial,and we have underestimated their ability to handle conceptual material. Thus, while there is very little algebra (and certainly no calculus) in our presentation, we have included numerous logical arguments that students in the humanitiesand the socialscienceswill find accessible, but not trivial. The book contains five main topics: a m.odel of escalation, game theoretic models of international conflict, yes-no voting systems, political power, and social choice. The first partofthe text is made up of a single chapter devoted to each topic. The second part of the text revisits each topic, again with a single chapter devoted to each. The organizationofthe bookisbasedonpedagogicalconsiderations, with the material becoming somewhat more sophisticated as one moves through the ten chapters. On the other hand, within any given chap terthere is little reliance on material from earlierchapters, except for those devoted to the same topic.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Springer New York
• Seitenzahl: 284
• Erscheinungstermin: 6. Dezember 2012
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781461225126
• Artikelnr.: 44178724

Autorenporträt

The author is a recognized expert in applying ideas in modern mathematics to problems in international conflict resolution. Intended for non-specialists and requiring only introductory mathematics, the quantitative methods are presented in strongly applied settings for political science and the social sciences.

Inhaltsangabe

Social Choice.- Yes-No Voting.- Political Power.- Conflict.- Fairness.- Escalation.- More Social Choice.- More Yes-No Voting.- More Political Power.- More Conflict.- More Fairness.- More Escalation.

Rezensionen

From the reviews of the second edition:

"Mathematics and Politics is the fruit of undergraduate mathematics courses taught by the authors. The primary audience is political and social science majors. ... The writing style is appropriate for the intended audience with the understanding that the students/readers have some familiarity with political science economics or sociology. ... Overall the book serves as a useful quantitative introduction to several of the covered topics. ... Faculty in the social sciences should strongly consider Mathematics and Politics as a resource/reference." (J. Douglas Barrett, Technometrics, Vol. 53 (1), February, 2011)

"It is intended to serve as a text for social science and humanities students that will highlight the power and utility of mathematics. ... if you are considering a course as described above, this textbook deserves to be the one that will entice you into taking the plunge. And if you simply want to educate yourself in areas of social science mathematics that have only recently started to get the attention they deserve, Mathematics and Politics deserves your strong consideration." (Edward W. Packel, SIAM Review, Vol. 52 (4), 2010)

This book is well written and has much math of interest. While it is pitched at a non-math audience there is material here that will be new and interesting to the readers... -Sigact News For mathematicians, Taylor's book shows how the social sciences make use of mathematical thinking, in the form of axiomatic systems, and offers a chance to teach this kind of thinking to our students. - The College Mathematics Journal The writing is crisp and the sense of excitement about learning mathematics is seductive. The political conflict examples are well thought out and clear. -Michael C. Munger