How Voting Is Like a Klein Bottle
A new topological model connects a centuries-old voting paradox to a surface with no distinct inside or outside.
A new topological model connects a centuries-old voting paradox to a surface with no distinct inside or outside.
The short version
- The post How Voting Is Like a Klein Bottle first appeared on Quanta Magazine.
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What happened
Click to tell Google to prioritize Quanta and see more of the best coverage of science and math in your search and AI results. That may sound like the premise of a Silicon Valley billionaire’s six-hour podcast, but it’s actually a statement about a remarkably stubborn problem: How do you translate a group of individual preferences into a single choice?
Why it matters
Now three researchers have shown that Condorcet’s 240-year-old paradox has a shape , and it’s suitably peculiar: a Klein bottle, a surface with no distinct inside or outside.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Quanta Magazine via the links above and below.