Adventures Outside of My Major: Math of Social Choice
Coming to Tufts, you’ll find that you have a variety of interdisciplinary class requirements to fulfill in order to graduate. The multifaceted nature of these classes is to ensure that you push yourself outside of your academic comfort zone. Students normally have a range of opinions on these graduation requirements: some may be fans of this kind of interdisciplinary learning, while others have no idea how to incorporate classes that are unrelated to their major into their schedule.
As a first year, I knew that I would specialize in a field that emphasized writing, creative analysis, and social justice. I wanted to major in international relations or English and prepare myself for a career in public service. If I had to fulfill the math and natural sciences graduation requirements, I wanted to make sure that I was still learning about social systems in action.
My search for an interdisciplinary STEM class culminated in registering for MATH-19, Math of Social Choice this past semester. Math of Social Choice is known for teaching students from a range of majors to apply mathematical reasoning to social decision making. Even if you’re not majoring in STEM, taking Math of Social Choice challenges you to consider mathematical approaches to issues like compensation and decision-making. I was grateful for this class because I could take a unique approach to fulfilling my math requirement while still advancing my academic passions.
In the first half of the semester, we learned about various winning strategies methods that are used in contemporary politics, such as runoff or elimination elections. Using logic, we worked through various election scenarios, determining which candidate would win in a hypothetical race. We wrapped up this unit right as the 2022 midterm elections rolled around, just in time for me to gain new insight into the way that US elections are conducted.
In the latter half of the course, we learned about compensating individuals disputing ownership of property. We practiced compensating various people in a variety of situations, from divorce disputes to splitting territory between countries. Later, we learned about how parties could manipulate compensation by lying and seeking a larger share of an object. I feel that the second half of the course better prepared me for real-life situations in which I might need to settle disputes between a number of people.
Despite the fact that many students in the class were not STEM majors, everyone had something to gain from going outside of their academic comfort zone. I know that I personally feel more comfortable with mathematical reasoning than I did before I took Math of Social choice. I'll now be able to apply what I learned in the class to my analysis of contemporary political situations when I take social science classes. While it might seem intimidating, the Tufts graduation requirements really do help you grow to become a more inquisitive student. Push yourself to try something new, and you might surprise yourself!