Scribd
Upload
96 views

Apportionment Method

The document defines key terms used in apportionment problems such as states, seats, apportionment methods, standard divisor, quotas, and quota violations. It then provides an example apportionment problem involving allocating 250 congressional seats among 6 states in Parador based on their population. Several apportionment methods are described, including Hamilton's method which allocates seats based on lower quotas and residues, Jefferson's method which uses a modified divisor to calculate quotas, Adam's method which allocates based on upper quotas, and Webster's method which uses conventional rounding.

Uploaded by

suren2006
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
96 views

Apportionment Method

The document defines key terms used in apportionment problems such as states, seats, apportionment methods, standard divisor, quotas, and quota violations. It then provides an example apportionment problem involving allocating 250 congressional seats among 6 states in Parador based on their population. Several apportionment methods are described, including Hamilton's method which allocates seats based on lower quotas and residues, Jefferson's method which uses a modified divisor to calculate quotas, Adam's method which allocates based on upper quotas, and Webster's method which uses conventional rounding.

Uploaded by

suren2006
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

Apportionment Method

Notations and definitions


• Apportionment problem:
Any problem where M identical, indivisible objects (the “seats”) must be divided among N
parties (the “states”) using some proportionality criterion (the “populations”)

• States:
A metaphor for the parties in an apportionment problem.

• Seats:
A metaphor for the identical, indivisible objects being apportioned.

• Apportionment method:
Given M seats to be apportioned among N states, a method that guarantees a division of the M
seats (no more and no less) to the N states based on their populations.

• Standard divisor:
𝑃𝑃
The ratio of total population (P) to number of seats (M) being apportioned (i.e., 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 = ).
𝑀𝑀

• Standard quota (quota):


𝑝𝑝
For a state with population p, the ratio ; it represents what the fair apportionment to the
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆
state would be if seats were divisible into fractional parts.

• Lower quota (L):


The largest integer smaller or equal to the quota. For example, the standard quota q = 32.92 has
lower quota L = 32.

• Upper quota (U):


The smallest integer bigger or equal to the quota. For example, the standard quota q = 32.92 has
upper quota U = 33.

• Quota rule:
A state should never be apportioned less than its lower quota or more than its upper quota.

• Upper-quota violation:
An apportionment of seats to a state that is more than the state’s upper quota.

• Lower-quota violation:
An apportionment of seats to a state that is less than the state’s lower quota.
Eg 1 : Parador is a small republic located in Central America and consists of six states: Azucar, Bahia, Cafe,
Diamante, Esmeralda, and Felicidad (A, B, C, D, E, and F for short). There are 250 seats in the Congress,
which, according to the laws of Parador, are to be apportioned among the six states in proportion to their
respective populations. What is the “correct” apportionment?

Step 1 : Find the standard divisor.

N=6 , M=250, P=12500000


𝑃𝑃 12500000 Each seat in congress corresponds to 50000 people.
𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 = = = 50000
𝑀𝑀 250

Step 2 : Find standard quotas of each state.


1646000
State A standard quota = = 32.92
50000
6936000
State B standard quota = = 138.72
50000
154000
State C standard quota = = 3.08
50000
2091000
State D standard quota = = 41.82
50000
685000
State E standard quota = = 13.70
50000
988000
State F standard quota = = 19.76
50000

Step 3 : Convert standard quotas to whole numbers.

First let’s try conventional rounding.

Conventional rounding results


in 251 seats but we only have
250 seats to give out.
The most important moral of Example is that conventional rounding of the standard quotas is not an
apportionment method. It can end up apportioning more than M seats (as in Example ) or less than M
seats. Sometimes things do fall into place, and it ends up apportioning exactly M seats, but since this is
not guaranteed, we can’t count on it as an apportionment method.

We will now discuss several methods that will give us a correct apportionment.

Method 1 – Hamilton’s Method


Step 1 :

Calculate each state’s standard quota.

Step 2 :

Round the standard quotas down and give to each state its lower quota.

Step 3 :

Give the surplus seats (one at a time) to the states with the largest residues (fractional parts) until there
are no more surplus seats.

Eg 2 : Let’s find the correct apportionment of example 1 using Hamilton’s method.

Residue = Std quota – Lower quota

Eg :Residue of state A = 32.92-32=0.92

Method 2 : Jefferson’s Method


Step 1 :

Find a “suitable” divisor d.

Step 2 :

Using d as the divisor, compute each state’s modified quota (modified quota = state population/d).

Step 3 :

Each state is apportioned its modified lower quota.


Eg 3 : Let’s find the correct apportionment of example 1 using Jefferson’s method.

Case 1 : d = 50000 (standard divisor)

d=50000 does not work as we only gave out 246 seats.

Case 2 : d =49000

d=49000 does not work as we overshot our target by 2 seats.

Case 3 : d=49500

d=49500 works as we give out exactly 250 seats.


How did we come up with the divisor d = 49,500 in this Example ?

The short answer is that we used educated trial and error. Since our goal is to have no surplus seats, we
must make the modified quotas bigger than the standard quotas. To do this we must divide the
populations by a smaller number than the standard divisor. So we start with some number “d < SD” that
is our first guess.

Method 3 : Adam’s Method


Step 1 :

Find a “suitable” divisor d.

Step 2 :

Using d as the divisor, compute each state’s modified quota (modified quota = state population/d).

Step 3 :

Each state is apportioned its modified upper quota.

Eg 4 : Let’s find the correct apportionment of example 1 using Adam’s method.


Method 4 : Webster’s Method
Step 1 :

Find a “suitable” divisor d.

Step 2 :

Using d as the divisor, compute each state’s modified quota (modified quota = state population/d).

Step 3 :

Find the apportionments by rounding each modified quota to the nearest integer (conventional rounding).

Eg 5 : Let’s find the correct apportionment of example 1 using Webster’s method.

You might also like