Questions? Get live answers at PBwiki's weekly office hours (1 PM Eastern, Weds September 3)
Educators: Earn a free Gold upgrade by joining the PBwiki Back To School Challenge.
Math in Government
Voting and polling has a crucial role in government. It decides most of the major political figures. For example the president is decided by polling as well as congressmen and senators who make up the most powerful part of our democratic country, the legislative branch. Although the legislative figures are solely decided on a majority vote the president is decided by the Electoral College, contrary to what most people believe. Electoral colleges are determined by the number of legislators in the state, every state has two because there are two senators from every state. Every state also has additional Electoral College votes from each person they have that belong to the House of Representatives; this number is different in every state because members of the house are put in by population. More populated states have more electoral votes due to them having more members in the House of Representatives, for example New Mexico has 5 electoral votes, and Massachusetts has twelve. This is interesting because the state of New Mexico is so much larger than Massachusetts.
In all there are a total of 538 electoral votes in the United States of America. To elect someone into office the candidate must receive 270 votes. This is difficult and interesting because usually sections of states vote for different people. The unwritten rule in this is that the person with the vote will see what the voters in his area think, however this is often not the case. Most of the time the voter does not care what the people in his area feel, they almost always have there mind made up before hand. It has been documented many times that the voters in a region have overwhelmingly voted for one candidate but the electoral vote has gone to another.
Another interesting thing about the Electoral College is the way in which they show up on Election Day. They don’t all go in at the same time; instead they are shown as they are counted which brings suspense like we have seen in the last two presidential elections. Sometimes it is so close a recount is in order like we saw in Florida, they funny part about that is the fact that it really didn’t matter do to the electoral voters having all the say.
NARA. U.S. Electoral College. 2000. April 25, 2008.
<http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/links.html>
Federal Election Commission. Distribution of electoral votes. October 3, 2003. April 25, 2008. <http://www.fec.gov/pages/elecvote.htm>
U.S. Department of State. Electoral College. 2008. April 25, 2008. <http://fpc.state.gov/fpc/c21306.htm>
edward O'Connell
Okay, Teddy, where is the mathematics in this? E. Cohen
Clarissa Ulibarri
Mathematics in Government: Careers
When you think of mathematics and people who have a career in it you think of your professors or teachers. These people are who are commonly known for their skills as mathematicians. We see these people teaching the world how to learn the skills of mathematics and how to apply them to our world. Although teachers and professors are important in our world and academic learning they are not the only ones that have an impact on how mathematics applies to our society today. A career in mathematics goes far beyond a job as a professor or teacher. In fact many careers that are on a professional based level happen to arise from the study of mathematics. Professions from engineers all the way to statistical computer analysts have a basis in mathematics. Mathematics is used to solve many problems in our everyday life but it is also used to apply their knowledge to explain topics that are hard to understand. Fractal dimensions are used to explain objects in nature and the Pythagorean Theorem can be used to explain the structures of buildings and bridges. As we can see a career in mathematics is not only comprised with teachers or professors but also many other professions as well. In the government however we can see that many mathematicians in the country are employed by the government and they maintain long lasting professions at a very good pay wage.
The government has a lot of influence on how our society is run and how we apply our laws to ourselves. There is a great variation to the word government because it not only deals with the white house or congress but in fact there are many governmental agencies that make life better for all the people in our society and are not given as much acknowledgement for their contributions. Mathematicians within our government are such people that contribute the most and don’t get the acknowledgement that they deserve. This is because many times mathematicians are in the background and behind the scenes but still their information and work is notably real significant in our lives.
To even have a career in a mathematics field in most government institutions a Ph.D. is usually the minimum educational requirement. That is why we usually see those who only have a bachelor’s in mathematics we can see are usually only teachers or professors. In the federal government a master’s degree could bode well but a Ph.D. is more of a favorable requirement of a career in mathematics in the government. As a career in mathematics is desired many of the classes that need to be taken for this career is theoretical and applied mathematics. This is because the nature of the work that a mathematician will see in the government field has to do with everyday problems that surround us. This can be looking over a crime rates in an urban population and analyzing patterns that might develop over time and coming up with solutions as to how to decrease the rates. This type of situation applies to an applied mathematician, someone who is usually working in an industrial and developmental field that they will use to create mathematical methods of how to resolve an issue. The applied mathematics field has a great importance to our government this is because they use their knowledge of math to help them understand the problems of today. One field that has increased in mathematicians is cryptanalysts. These people decipher encryption codes and develop new ones to relate information to military, political, financial, and law-enforcement information.
To have a career in any government field other than mathematics, there needs to be at least some mathematics involved. As we can see mathematics relates to a lot of our situations and problems in our world and mathematics help to solve many of those issues. In fact there are so many career fields that involve mathematics outweighing those who in fact call themselves mathematicians. 37% of the mathematicians in our society are employed by the government and are getting paid about $90,000 to $200,000. In the government a career in mathematics is not all about problems and how they are solved but how you can use those numbers and solutions to make a difference in our world.
References:
Ju Yeon Jung: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), Maths, The Passport to Full Employment, Education; pg. 17, 850 words
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition, , on the Internet at
CCIM, Computation, Computers, Information, and Mathematics, CCIM Capabilities, January 7, 2008, on the Internet at
Clarissa Ulibarri
Clarissa, this is interesting because I did not realize a few of the things you speak about, for example I didnt know government related math jobs required a PHD. Another thing your paper made me do was think about taking a few extra math credits before I graduate. T.O
Clarissa, you can delete the entire first paragraph. Then be more specific about the fields to which you allude when you say mathematicians work in the government and mainly need a PhD. What sort of thing are you talking about? The only specific field you mentioned is the cryptologists or "cryptanalysis." I want to know more about the mathematics they do. And there are so many other fields you could discuss. On the other hand, how is this mathematics in government? E. Cohen
Blanca Dena
Mathematics and Government
In class we learned about statistics and probabilities and how it affects us in real life. Even though statistics and probabilities were first used by Fermat and Pascal in the 1600’s, today the Senate and Congress look at and review statistics and probability outcomes in the new laws they’re about to accept.
The government uses math each day just like any other person. They’re mathematics specify on an area of statistics (i.e. crime statistics, immigration statistics, probabilities of car accidents.) A main topic I focused on is the DREAM Act.
The DREAM Act has been reintroduced in the Senate since 2003 to 2007. According to Dervarics (2007), in May 2006 the Senate passed the act as part of a comprehensive immigration reform bill, but the House never took up the measure. The act has many years trying to get passed by Congress, unfortunately it has always failed. The reason it has failed is due to the fact that U.S. government takes into account how much money will have to be spent to pass this new immigration reform, this is called probability. It is probability because the government is predicting the outcomes of a new society if the act is accepted.
When it comes to statistics, Congress looks at the statistics of immigrants there is in the country. They also look at how many work, how many drop-out due to financial issues, and the statistics between race ethnicities.
They say mathematics has also helped our homeland to be more secure by performing mathematical analysis in the effects of anthrax, or any kind of poison breaking out; this prevents terrorism. This method is an effective use by our government because it has helped reduce terrorism and has kept us all safe.
References
Byrd, N. (2007). Lawmakers Debate Access for Immigrants. Academe,93(3),12-13.
Devarics, C. (2007). New Congress more amenable to DREAM Act (Washington update)
(Developmental,Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act). Diverse Issues in HigherEducation,24.5, 10.
What sort of mathematics shows up in the Dream Act? Please be more specific with the mathematics. E. Cohen
I agree that statistics are in our everyday life, and that they are a valuable tool in prevention of many bad things however when something is stopped due to statistics the real outcome will never be shown and an educated guess could have prevented something good from happening.T.O
Great summary! It isn't thought of by the average person how much math is used in any position especially the government. Referring to what Cohen said though what type of mathematics show up in the DREAM Act? Other than that it was a great summary! Casey F.
Page Information
|
Wiki Information |
Recent PBwiki Blog Posts |
Create your own educational wiki!