[EM] Why Condorcet

[robert bristow-johnson]

On Jul 7, 2010, at 2:36 AM, Kristofer Munsterhjelm wrote:

> robert bristow-johnson wrote:
>
>> i still think that rectangular N*N matrix is sorta useless.  it's  
>> hard to read.  each pair should be grouped together for visual  
>> inspection.
>
> How do you handle the case where some voters have no preference  
> between certain candidates? In that case -- say someone voted C = D,  
> then (C>D + D>C) is not equal to the number of voters. If you  
> publish only C>D, then there's no way to know whether someone equal- 
> ranked him or not.

so, maybe instead of two little lines per pair, there are three.   
(actually another line for defeat strength would be useful.)

      C>D   2936
      D>C   1592
      C=D    129
           <1344>

so, i guess that would mean that 129 voters ranked C and D equally  
somewhere above the absolute bottom (since unranked and unmarked  
candidates are tied for last place on any particular ballot).  if  
those 3 numbers add up to less than the number of voters who received  
and cast ballots, then the difference would have to be voters who  
didn't rank C and D at all (and left tied for last place).

the point is that everything you have regarding a pair of candidates  
is grouped together in one place for easy inspection.  i do not think  
that rectangular NxN matrix lends itself to quick and easy inspection  
by a lay person.

--

r b-j                  rbj at audioimagination.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."