Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 December 21

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December 21[edit]

I donated, leave me alone[edit]

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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

I donated, leave me alone — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:56A:783C:7700:E063:BFC5:295A:AC02 (talk) 01:55, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Just X out of the donation banner. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:07, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
You haven't registered, and are posting from an IP address issued by your ISP. It can change at any time. Someone else could be posting from your current address tomorrow. Wikipedia cannot tell who is posting from an IP address, so it cannot know it's someone who has already donated. The solution is to register. That also gives you greater anonymity. Right now, your IP address tells me you are probably in Calgary, Canada. If you register, nobody can tell where you are. HiLo48 (talk) 03:11, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Just how far from getting a seventh congressional seat was Connecticut back in 1970?[edit]

Just how far from getting a seventh congressional seat was Connecticut back in 1970? Futurist110 (talk) 18:21, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know that they were "close to getting a seventh congressional seat" in 1970, so one would first need to see where you found that information before someone can help you research it. In general, however, if you want more details on the history of congressional districting in the U.S., this website seems to have every single district in the history of the U.S. Without knowing more about the antecedent to your question (since it presupposes something as true that we haven't even 'established' yet, see plurium interrogationum) it would be difficult to research any more details on it. If you could show us where you learned such an idea, perhaps we could use the information to help direct you to more details. --Jayron32 20:07, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I did this calculation: (3,031,709 / 203,392,031) * 435 = 6.484 Congressional seats. 3,031,709 was Connecticut's total population in 1970, 203,392,031 was the US's total population in 1970, and 435 is the total number of seats in the US House of Representatives. The fact that, proportionally, Connecticut would have deserved almost 6.5 Congressional seats in 1970 suggests that it might have been close to getting a seventh Congressional seat after the 1970 US Census, no? Futurist110 (talk) 21:06, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Futurist110: I think all the information you need is at United_States_congressional_apportionment#Past_apportionments, where it shows the formula used to apportion House seats along with links to the census data. According to the table, the reapportionment from the 1970 United States census happened in 1973. I'll note that Connecticut got six seats with a population of 3,031,709 and Kentucky got 7 seats with a population of 3,218,706, so that gives some bounds to your question. RudolfRed (talk) 20:18, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
What about my calculation above? Is there any US state in 1970 who had a larger "seat remainder" than Connecticut had in 1970 (Connecticut's remainder was 0.484, since 6.484 - 6 = 0.484) and yet had its number of seats rounded down as opposed to rounded up? Futurist110 (talk) 21:06, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Futurist110: It is more complicated than just the rounding of fractions. See the formula on the page I linked above. You will need to either find, or calculate yourself, the "priority" values, and that is how the seats are allocated. See this example for 2010: [1]. I tried some searching, but could not find the 1970 version online. RudolfRed (talk) 21:22, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much! Futurist110 (talk) 08:04, 22 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The modern method of apportioning seats is known as the Huntington–Hill method, and was in use in 1970. It isn't as simple as your calculation, but it also isn't too complex. The article may give you some more insight into the issue. --Jayron32 12:17, 22 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
According to PDF page 18 of [2] the last seat went to Oklahoma with a priority value of 472,043. Oregon would have gotten the next seat with 471,991. PDF page 4 says Oklahoma had population 2,585,486 used for apportionment and they got their 6th seat. Their priority value is calculated as 2,585,486/sqrt(5×6) = 472,043 so it adds up. Connecticut had population 3,050,693 used for apportionment and got 6 seats. Their priority value for a 7th would have been 3,050,693/sqrt(6×7) = 470732, below Oklahoma and Oregon. In order to get a priority value of 472,044 to beat Oklahoma they would need a population of 472,044 × sqrt(6×7) = 3,059,195 so they were missing 8,502. Oregon would need 472,044 × sqrt(4×5) = 2,111,045 to get a 5th seat. They had 2,110,810 so they were only missing 235. Connecticut was missing 36 times as many. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:16, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Very interesting! Thank you! So, Connecticut needed an extra 8,502 people to get a seventh seat in the US House of Representatives in 1970. Not a lot, but not nothing either. Futurist110 (talk) 03:51, 22 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Futurist110: I computed all priority values in 1970 and continued to 536 to see what would happen if all 535 voting members of congress were distributed like this instead of 435. It starts at 51 because states always get 1 member.
Priority values in 1970
seat, priority value, state, members for that state
51 14212042 California 2
52 12966963 New York 2
53 8403479 Pennsylvania 2
54 8205326 California 3
55 7989449 Texas 2
56 7908509 Illinois 2
57 7587397 Ohio 2
58 7486480 New York 3
59 6319552 Michigan 2
60 5802042 California 4
61 5293740 New York 4
62 5096850 New Jersey 2
63 4851751 Pennsylvania 3
64 4847713 Florida 2
65 4612710 Texas 3
66 4565980 Illinois 3
67 4494242 California 5
68 4380586 Ohio 3
69 4100514 New York 5
70 4049371 Massachusetts 2
71 3696865 Indiana 2
72 3669534 California 6
73 3648595 Michigan 3
74 3624085 North Carolina 2
75 3430706 Pennsylvania 4
76 3348055 New York 6
77 3336154 Missouri 2
78 3316855 Virginia 2
79 3271999 Georgia 2
80 3261679 Texas 4
81 3228635 Illinois 4
82 3144513 Wisconsin 2
83 3101322 California 7
84 3097542 Ohio 4
85 2942668 New Jersey 3
86 2829623 New York 7
87 2800892 Tennessee 2
88 2798829 Florida 3
89 2795687 Maryland 2
90 2710463 Minnesota 2
91 2685824 California 8
92 2657413 Pennsylvania 5
93 2596502 Louisiana 2
94 2579946 Michigan 4
95 2526486 Texas 5
96 2500890 Illinois 5
97 2457822 Alabama 2
98 2450526 New York 8
99 2434913 Washington 2
100 2399346 Ohio 5
101 2368674 California 9
102 2337906 Massachusetts 3
103 2295609 Kentucky 2
104 2169769 Pennsylvania 6
105 2161161 New York 9
106 2157166 Connecticut 2
107 2134386 Indiana 3
108 2118606 California 10
109 2092366 North Carolina 3
110 2080780 New Jersey 4
111 2062867 Texas 6
112 2041968 Illinois 6
113 2013076 Iowa 2
114 1998418 Michigan 5
115 1979071 Florida 4
116 1959058 Ohio 6
117 1933001 New York 10
118 1926129 Missouri 3
119 1916351 California 11
120 1914987 Virginia 3
121 1889090 Georgia 3
122 1850725 South Carolina 2
123 1833789 Pennsylvania 7
124 1828215 Oklahoma 2
125 1815485 Wisconsin 3
126 1749381 California 12
127 1748465 New York 11
128 1743441 Texas 7
129 1725778 Illinois 7
130 1655706 Ohio 7
131 1653149 Massachusetts 4
132 1631701 Michigan 6
133 1617096 Tennessee 3
134 1614090 Maryland 3
135 1611766 New Jersey 5
136 1609197 California 13
137 1602195 Kansas 2
138 1596123 New York 12
139 1588108 Pennsylvania 8
140 1579569 Mississippi 2
141 1574565 Colorado 2
142 1564886 Minnesota 3
143 1532982 Florida 5
144 1509864 Texas 8
145 1509239 Indiana 4
146 1499091 Louisiana 3
147 1494568 Illinois 8
148 1492568 Oregon 2
149 1489827 California 14
150 1479526 North Carolina 4
151 1468219 New York 13
152 1433883 Ohio 8
153 1419024 Alabama 3
154 1405798 Washington 3
155 1400580 Pennsylvania 9
156 1386953 California 15
157 1379039 Michigan 7
158 1373416 Arkansas 2
159 1361979 Missouri 4
160 1359307 New York 14
161 1354101 Virginia 4
162 1335788 Georgia 4
163 1331575 Texas 9
164 1325370 Kentucky 3
165 1318085 Illinois 9
166 1316001 New Jersey 6
167 1297376 California 16
168 1283742 Wisconsin 4
169 1280524 Massachusetts 5
170 1265446 New York 15
171 1264566 Ohio 9
172 1264038 Arizona 2
173 1252717 Pennsylvania 10
174 1251674 Florida 6
175 1246863 West Virginia 2
176 1245440 Connecticut 3
177 1218673 California 17
178 1194283 Michigan 8
179 1190997 Texas 10
180 1183716 New York 16
181 1178931 Illinois 10
182 1169051 Indiana 5
183 1162250 Iowa 3
184 1148976 California 18
185 1146036 North Carolina 5
186 1143460 Tennessee 4
187 1141334 Maryland 4
188 1133125 Pennsylvania 11
189 1131062 Ohio 10
190 1112224 New Jersey 7
191 1111908 New York 17
192 1106542 Minnesota 4
193 1086822 California 19
194 1077297 Texas 11
195 1068516 South Carolina 3
196 1066383 Illinois 11
197 1060017 Louisiana 4
198 1058412 Nebraska 2
199 1057858 Florida 7
200 1055520 Oklahoma 3
201 1054984 Missouri 5
202 1053259 Michigan 9
203 1048882 Virginia 5
204 1048317 New York 18
205 1045543 Massachusetts 6
206 1034697 Georgia 5
207 1034397 Pennsylvania 12
208 1031050 California 20
209 1023084 Ohio 11
210 1003402 Alabama 4
211 994382 Wisconsin 5
212 994049 Washington 4
213 991608 New York 19
214 983433 Texas 12
215 980724 California 21
216 973470 Illinois 12
217 963214 New Jersey 8
218 954526 Indiana 6
219 951507 Pennsylvania 13
220 942063 Michigan 10
221 940722 New York 20
222 937178 Kentucky 4
223 935735 North Carolina 6
224 935084 California 22
225 933944 Ohio 12
226 925028 Kansas 3
227 916132 Florida 8
228 911965 Mississippi 3
229 909075 Colorado 3
230 904627 Texas 13
231 895462 Illinois 13
232 894805 New York 21
233 893503 California 23
234 885720 Tennessee 5
235 884074 Maryland 5
236 883645 Massachusetts 7
237 880924 Pennsylvania 14
238 880659 Connecticut 4
239 861735 Oregon 3
240 861391 Missouri 6
241 859104 Ohio 13
242 857124 Minnesota 5
243 856408 Virginia 6
244 855464 California 24
245 853164 New York 22
246 852128 Michigan 11
247 849475 New Jersey 9
248 844827 Georgia 6
249 837522 Texas 14
250 829037 Illinois 14
251 821835 Iowa 4
252 821086 Louisiana 5
253 820533 California 25
254 820096 Pennsylvania 15
255 815226 New York 23
256 811910 Wisconsin 6
257 807952 Florida 9
258 806722 Indiana 7
259 795375 Ohio 14
260 792942 Arkansas 3
261 790840 North Carolina 7
262 788342 California 26
263 780519 New York 24
264 779690 Texas 15
265 777883 Michigan 12
266 777232 Alabama 5
267 771791 Illinois 15
268 769987 Washington 5
269 767129 Pennsylvania 16
270 765259 Massachusetts 8
271 759794 New Jersey 10
272 758583 California 27
273 755555 South Carolina 4
274 755056 Utah 2
275 748648 New York 25
276 746366 Oklahoma 4
277 740454 Ohio 15
278 730989 California 28
279 729793 Arizona 3
280 729334 Texas 16
281 728008 Missouri 7
282 725961 New Mexico 2
283 725935 Kentucky 5
284 723797 Virginia 7
285 723187 Tennessee 6
286 722654 Florida 10
287 721945 Illinois 16
288 721843 Maryland 6
289 720592 Pennsylvania 17
290 719877 West Virginia 3
291 719278 New York 26
292 715548 Michigan 13
293 714009 Georgia 7
294 711576 Maine 2
295 705332 California 29
296 699838 Minnesota 6
297 698642 Indiana 8
298 692631 Ohio 16
299 692125 New York 27
300 687259 New Jersey 11
301 686189 Wisconsin 7
302 685090 Texas 17
303 684888 North Carolina 8
304 682156 Connecticut 5
305 681415 California 30
306 679381 Pennsylvania 18
307 678149 Illinois 17
308 677265 Rhode Island 2
309 674895 Massachusetts 9
310 670414 Louisiana 6
311 666949 New York 28
312 662469 Michigan 14
313 659068 California 31
314 654093 Kansas 4
315 653666 Florida 11
316 650614 Ohio 17
317 645909 Texas 18
318 644856 Mississippi 4
319 643540 New York 29
320 642813 Colorado 4
321 642630 Pennsylvania 19
322 639365 Illinois 18
323 638140 California 32
324 636591 Iowa 5
325 634607 Alabama 6
326 630474 Missouri 8
327 628692 Washington 6
328 627379 New Jersey 12
329 626827 Virginia 8
330 621718 New York 30
331 618500 California 33
332 618350 Georgia 8
333 616725 Michigan 15
334 616144 Indiana 9
335 613405 Ohio 18
336 611205 Tennessee 7
337 611074 Nebraska 3
338 610968 Texas 19
339 610069 Maryland 7
340 609652 Pennsylvania 20
341 609338 Oregon 4
342 604779 Illinois 19
343 604014 North Carolina 9
344 603645 Massachusetts 10
345 601329 New York 31
346 600033 California 34
347 596712 Florida 12
348 594257 Wisconsin 8
349 592724 Kentucky 6
350 591471 Minnesota 7
351 585251 South Carolina 5
352 582637 California 35
353 582234 New York 32
354 580223 Ohio 19
355 579895 Pennsylvania 21
356 579616 Texas 20
357 578132 Oklahoma 5
358 577105 New Jersey 13
359 576894 Michigan 16
360 573744 Illinois 20
361 566603 Louisiana 7
362 566221 California 36
363 564315 New York 33
364 560695 Arkansas 4
365 556978 Connecticut 6
366 556026 Missouri 9
367 555009 Hawaii 2
368 552908 Pennsylvania 22
369 552809 Virginia 9
370 551324 Texas 21
371 551096 Indiana 10
372 550705 California 37
373 550448 Ohio 20
374 548895 Florida 13
375 547466 New York 34
376 546017 Massachusetts 11
377 545739 Illinois 21
378 545333 Georgia 9
379 541897 Michigan 17
380 540247 North Carolina 10
381 536341 Alabama 7
382 536017 California 38
383 534295 New Jersey 14
384 531594 New York 35
385 531342 Washington 7
386 529319 Tennessee 8
387 528335 Maryland 8
388 528322 Pennsylvania 23
389 527702 New Hampshire 2
390 525667 Texas 22
391 524086 Wisconsin 9
392 523580 Ohio 21
393 522092 California 39
394 520342 Illinois 22
395 519774 Iowa 6
396 516616 New York 36
397 516041 Arizona 4
398 512229 Minnesota 8
399 510905 Michigan 18
400 509061 Idaho 2
401 509030 West Virginia 4
402 508873 California 40
403 508178 Florida 14
404 506659 Kansas 5
405 505830 Pennsylvania 24
406 502460 New York 37
407 502292 Texas 23
408 500943 Kentucky 7
409 499504 Mississippi 5
410 499214 Ohio 22
411 498485 Indiana 11
412 498443 Massachusetts 12
413 497921 Colorado 5
414 497402 New Jersey 15
415 497324 Missouri 10
416 497204 Illinois 23
417 496306 California 41
418 496087 Montana 2
419 494448 Virginia 10
420 490693 Louisiana 8
421 489058 New York 38
422 488672 North Carolina 11
423 487761 Georgia 10
424 485175 Pennsylvania 25
425 484345 California 42
426 483268 Michigan 19
427 480908 Texas 24
428 477855 South Carolina 6
429 477016 Ohio 23
430 476353 New York 39
431 476058 South Dakota 2
432 476036 Illinois 24
433 473088 Florida 15
434 472947 California 43
435 472043 Oklahoma 6
436 471991 Oregon 5
437 470732 Connecticut 7
438 468756 Wisconsin 10
439 466815 Tennessee 9
440 466141 Pennsylvania 26
441 465948 Maryland 9
442 465277 New Jersey 16
443 464485 Alabama 8
444 464292 New York 40
445 462073 California 44
446 461271 Texas 25
447 460155 Washington 8
448 458501 Massachusetts 13
449 458468 Michigan 20
450 456708 Ohio 24
451 456598 Illinois 25
452 455053 Indiana 12
453 452826 New York 41
454 451744 Minnesota 9
455 451688 California 45
456 449847 Missouri 11
457 448545 Pennsylvania 27
458 447245 Virginia 11
459 446094 North Carolina 12
460 443175 Texas 26
461 442534 Florida 16
462 441913 New York 42
463 441760 California 46
464 441363 North Dakota 2
465 441196 Georgia 11
466 439289 Iowa 7
467 438685 Illinois 26
468 438059 Ohio 25
469 437051 New Jersey 17
470 436091 Michigan 21
471 435932 Utah 3
472 434312 Arkansas 5
473 433829 Kentucky 8
474 432750 Louisiana 9
475 432259 California 47
476 432228 Pennsylvania 28
477 432095 Nebraska 4
478 431514 New York 43
479 426445 Texas 27
480 424489 Massachusetts 14
481 424006 Wisconsin 11
482 423157 California 48
483 422125 Illinois 27
484 421592 New York 44
485 420873 Ohio 26
486 419134 New Mexico 3
487 418587 Indiana 13
488 417532 Tennessee 10
489 417058 Pennsylvania 29
490 416756 Maryland 10
491 415796 Michigan 22
492 415688 Florida 17
493 414432 California 49
494 413685 Kansas 6
495 412117 New York 45
496 412056 New Jersey 18
497 410933 Texas 28
498 410828 Maine 3
499 410652 Missouri 12
500 410347 North Carolina 13
501 409637 Alabama 9
502 408277 Virginia 12
503 407843 Mississippi 6
504 407666 Connecticut 8
505 406770 Illinois 28
506 406551 Colorado 6
507 406058 California 50
508 405819 Washington 9
509 404985 Ohio 27
510 404052 Minnesota 10
511 403861 South Carolina 7
512 403059 New York 46
513 402916 Pennsylvania 30
514 402755 Georgia 12
515 399724 Arizona 5
516 398949 Oklahoma 7
517 398017 California 51
518 397307 Michigan 23
519 396510 Texas 29
520 395178 Massachusetts 15
521 394390 New York 47
522 394293 West Virginia 5
523 392493 Illinois 29
524 391914 Florida 18
525 391019 Rhode Island 3
526 390288 California 52
527 390272 Delaware 2
528 390254 Ohio 28
529 389766 New Jersey 19
530 389702 Pennsylvania 31
531 387537 Indiana 14
532 387064 Louisiana 10
533 387063 Wisconsin 12
534 386086 New York 48
535 385379 Oregon 6
536 383065 Texas 30
The closest with decimals added:
532 387063.63 Louisiana 10
533 387062.80 Wisconsin 12
Wisconsin had population 4,447,013. They needed 10 more to beat Louisiana for a hypothetical 532nd seat. The number of extra members each state would get instead of 2 senators, followed by how many they actually got when the 435 members were distributed:
Extra members
2 7 Alabama
0 1 Alaska
1 4 Arizona
1 4 Arkansas
9 43 California
1 5 Colorado
2 6 Connecticut
1 1 Delaware
3 15 Florida
2 10 Georgia
0 2 Hawaii
0 2 Idaho
5 24 Illinois
3 11 Indiana
1 6 Iowa
1 5 Kansas
1 7 Kentucky
2 8 Louisiana
1 2 Maine
2 8 Maryland
3 12 Massachusetts
4 19 Michigan
2 8 Minnesota
1 5 Mississippi
2 10 Missouri
0 2 Montana
1 3 Nebraska
0 1 Nevada
0 2 New Hampshire
4 15 New Jersey
1 2 New Mexico
9 39 New York
2 11 North Carolina
1 1 North Dakota
5 23 Ohio
1 6 Oklahoma
2 4 Oregon
6 25 Pennsylvania
1 2 Rhode Island
1 6 South Carolina
0 2 South Dakota
2 8 Tennessee
5 24 Texas
1 2 Utah
0 1 Vermont
2 10 Virginia
2 7 Washington
1 4 West Virginia
3 9 Wisconsin
0 1 Wyoming
California and New York would get 9 more. Many would get 0. PrimeHunter (talk) 09:21, 25 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]