[EM] What is good apportionment?

[Brian Olson]

Wading through the recent apportionment debate (and flame war) I didn't 
get a clear sense of what it is we're trying to optimize with various 
solutions.

representation = representatives / people
so, right now the target representation should be about
435/300000000
(and I intend to get my full .00000145 share of my congresswoman!)


Possible Apportionment Goals, as concise as I can make them:
least over-representation - the solution shall have the least possible 
per-capita representation in the highest representation state. No state 
shall be the one everyone is jealous of.

least under-representation - the solution shall have the highest possible 
per-capita representation in the state with the lowest representation. No 
state shall be unduly ripped off.

minimize representation spread - find the solution with the smallest 
per-capita representation difference between least and most represented 
people.

minimize standard deviation of per-capita representation - there may be 
some odd highs and lows, but on average it works out.


On any of those I think it would be a valid variation to ignore as 
outliers states with less than one whole representative worth of 
population (this should filter out measurement-distorting effects of the 
one seat minimum).

So, maybe this is a philosophical question, which of these is most fair?

Brian Olson
http://bolson.org/