Review of 'Mathematics of Elections and Voting' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Short text on voting theory. Covers simple elections, amendment voting, Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem, complex elections and then rapidly (and superficially) looks at power indices and cardinal voting systems.
First four chapters are quite straightforward. Sufficient examples and then problems at the end of the chapter. Once you hit the chapter on Arrow's theorem the text isn't so clear. The proof offered is easier to understand (in my opinion) if your refer to text on which the section is based.
[J. Genenakopolos “Three Brief Proofs of Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem,” Economic Theory, (2005), 26(1): 211-215. ] .
The final 3 chapters are quite short and deal with topics lightly. Some improvements in clarity could be made in a one or two places. Ironically, although the book sets out to be a more mathematically inclined text on a topic often delivered to non-STEM students (i.e. what the USians call "liberal …
Short text on voting theory. Covers simple elections, amendment voting, Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem, complex elections and then rapidly (and superficially) looks at power indices and cardinal voting systems.
First four chapters are quite straightforward. Sufficient examples and then problems at the end of the chapter. Once you hit the chapter on Arrow's theorem the text isn't so clear. The proof offered is easier to understand (in my opinion) if your refer to text on which the section is based.
[J. Genenakopolos “Three Brief Proofs of Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem,” Economic Theory, (2005), 26(1): 211-215. ] .
The final 3 chapters are quite short and deal with topics lightly. Some improvements in clarity could be made in a one or two places. Ironically, although the book sets out to be a more mathematically inclined text on a topic often delivered to non-STEM students (i.e. what the USians call "liberal arts" ) it doesn't really come across that way. Generally easy going text.
Several good references are given in the preface and bibliography including websites for further reading. Generally good, short and dedicated to the one topic. But could be better. I think, Tannenbaum's "Excursions in Modem Mathematics" covers the same ground generally better but that text is bundled with several other topics and hence is 6 times the length (costly too!).
If you want a text that gets straight to the point, manages to survey quite a few topics, and are not concerned about having a huge amount of depth then this book is worth a read.