[EM] "good method" ? was "IRV ballot pile count (proof of closed form)"

[Jonathan Lundell]

On Feb 14, 2010, at 6:56 PM, Paul Kislanko wrote:

> Isn't A>*>B the same as 
> A>i1=i2=i3=...=iN>B ?

Yes, except that I don't have to list all the i(n).

> 
> And are we talking about representations of ranked ballots (where A>*>B is
> just shorthand) or are we suggesting that a voter could cast a ballot with a
> '*' to indicate unranked intermediates? 
> 
> A>*>B>*>C is problematical, since all the unranked '*'s need to be assigned
> into one or the other of the A>B, B>C categorgies.

Shorthand. And only one *. Since * is essentially unknown, all unknowns are ranked together.