San Francisco Math Circle & JRMF. (2021). Gerrymandering. In S. Bowen (Ed.). Math Circle Activity Database. American Institute of Mathematics. https://mathcircles.org/activity/gerrymandering
Gerrymandering
Contributor(s): David Klein, Spencer Bowen
Math Circles: JRMF, San Francisco Math Circle
Merriam Webster defines gerrymandering as “the practice of dividing or arranging a territorial unit into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage in elections.” This activity tries to make sense of that definition using a few examples.
Activity Handouts
Click on a handout to open in Google Drive or use the buttons below to download all handouts
Activity Guide
This guide looks at the activity in detail and goes into the underlying math.
Desmos Activity
Students can work through the activity and answer questions. Teachers can assign work to students, view work, and control activity pace.
Digital App
In this app from the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival, you can work on 28 increasingly difficult Gerrymandering Puzzles, or you can use their sandbox to make your very own maps!
