HAMILTON’S METHOD

The Hamilton sets the divisor as the proportion of the total population
per house seat. After each state's population is divided by the divisor,
the whole number of the quotient is kept and the fraction dropped.
This will result in surplus house seats. The first surplus seat is assigned
to the state with the largest fraction after the original division. The next
is assigned to the state with the second-largest fraction and so on.

PROCEDURE:

*Step 1. Calculate each state’s standard quota.

*Step 2. Give to each state its lower quota.
*Step 3. Give the surplus seats to the state with th
e largest fractional parts until there are no more su
rplus seats.

EXAMPLES
 Consider a country with 4 states and 30 seats in Congress and
populations distributed as in the table below.

Population Quota Initial Final

State A 27,500 4.3651 4 5
State B 38,300 6.0794 6 6
State C 46,500 7.3016 7 7
State D 76,700 12.1746 12 12
Total 189,000 =30 29 30

Divisor = 189,000
30 = 6,300

A teacher wishes to distribute 10 identical pieces of candy

among 4 students, based on how many pages of a book they read
last month, using Hamilton’s method. The table below lists the
total number of pages read by each student.

Name Pages Quota Initial Final

Alan 580 5.1786 5 5
Antonio 230 2.0536 2 2
 Alex 180 1.6071 1 2
Lucas 130 1.1607 1 1
Total 1,120 10 9 10

Divisor = 1,120
10 = 112

Answer the following questions. Round to 4 decimal places.

Find the divisor: 12

Find the quota for Antonio: 2.0536

Find the initial apportionment for Antonio: 2

 JEFFERSON’S METHOD

It is an apportionment algorithm which assigns

representative seats by decreasing the ideal ratio until the
quota for one of the groups exceeds an integer value. This
group is then given that number of seats.

PROCEDURE:
1. Determine how many people each representative should represent. Do
this by diving the total population of all the states by the total number
of representatives. This answer is called the standard divisor or divisor.

2. Divide each state's population by the divisor to determine how many

representatives it should have. Record this answer to several decimal
places. This answer is called the quota.

3. Cut of all the decimal parts of all the quotas (but don't forget what the
decimals were). These are the lower quotas or initial apportionment.
Add up these whole numbers. This answer will always be less than or
equal to the total number of representatives.
 4. If the total from Step 3 was less than the total number of
representatives, reduce the divisor and recalculate the quota and
allocation. Continue doing this until the total in Step 3 is equal to the
total number of representatives. The divisor we end up using is called
the modified divisor or adjusted divisor.

EXAMPLE
If a country had 4 states, and a 20-seat House of Representatives...
2560 + 3315 + 995 + 5012 = 11882
11882 ⁄ 20 = 594.1

State Population Quotient Seats

Apportioned
A 2560 2560 ⁄ 594.1 = 4.31 4
B 3315 3315 ⁄ 594.1 = 5.58 5
C 995 995 ⁄ 594.1 = 1.67 1
D 5012 5012 ⁄ 594.1 = 8.44 8
Total = 18 Seats (2 Surplus)
But if the divisor were 550 instead of 594.a...

State Population Quotient Seats

Apportioned
A 2560 2560 ⁄ 550 = 4.65 4
B 3315 3315 ⁄ 550 = 6.03 6
C 995 995 ⁄ 550 = 1.81 1
D 5012 5012 ⁄ 550 = 9.11 9
Total = 20 Seats

HAUNTINGTON’S METHOD
 It is a modified version of the Webster method, but it uses a slightly
different rounding method. While Webster's method rounds at 0.5, the
Huntington-Hill method rounds at the geometric mean, which is
described below. If a state's quotient is higher than its geometric mean,
it will be allocated an additional seat. This method will almost always
result in the desired number of seats.

PROCEDURE:

1. Determine how many people each representative should represent. Do

this by dividing the total population of all the states by the total number
of representatives. This answer is called the standard divisor.

2. Divide each state's population by the divisor to determine how many

representatives it should have. Record this answer to several decimal
places. This answer is called the quota.

3. Cut off the decimal part of the quota to obtain the lower quota, which
we'll call n. Compute *square root* of n(n+1), which is the geometric
mean of the lower quota and one value higher.

4. If the quota is larger than the geometric mean, round up the quota. If
the quota is smaller than the geometric mean, round down the quota.
Add up the resulting whole numbers to get the initial allocation.

5. If the total from Step 4 is less than the total number of

representatives, reducee the divisor and recalculate the quota and
allocation. If the total from step 4 is larger than the number of
representatives, increase the divisor and recalculate the quota and
 allocation. The divisor we end up using is called the modified divisor
or adjusted divisor.

EXAMPLE

For example, the arithmetic mean of 4 and 5 is 4.5:

(4 + 5) ⁄ 2 = 4.5
The geometric mean is 4.47:
(4 x 5) = 20
√(20) = 4.47
If a country had 4 states, and a planned 20-seat House of Representatives...
2560 + 3315 + 995 + 5012 = 11882
11882 ⁄ 20 = 594.1

State Population Quotient Lower Upper Geometric Seats

Quotient Quotient Mean Apportioned
A 2560 2560 ⁄ 594.1 = 4.31 4 5 4.47 4
B 3315 3315 ⁄ 594.1 = 5.58 5 6 5.48 6
C 995 995 ⁄ 594.1 = 1.67 1 2 1.41 2
D 5012 5012 ⁄ 594.1 = 8.44 8 9 8.49 8
Total = 20 Seats

UNIVERSITY OF MAKATI
J.P Rizal Extension, West Rembo, Makati City
 PROJECT
IN
MATHEMATICS IN THE MODERN WOLRD

Submitted by:
Raymark N. Montenegro
Section: 1-BN

Date of Submission:
October 16, 2019

Professor Angelyn Pangilinan