Dave Ketchum wrote:
On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 00:01:11 -0800 Russ Paielli wrote:
...
On the theoretical side, what exactly would an equal-ranking capability accomplish? Does it give the voter some significant strategic mechanism, or is it simply way for the voter to express indecision? If it's the latter, then it is completely unnecessary. If the voter truly rates the candidates as precisely equal down to the tenth decimal place, then it really shouldn't matter to him which he ranks above the other. If the decision is really that difficult, he can flip a coin. Why make the system more complicated than it needs to be?
Conceded it complicates the counting, though I do not see that as major.
It doesn't complicate the counting. Especially if you use the code from my website.
def pairwise_matrix(ballots): """Return a matrix M such that M[i][j] = votes for candidate #i over #j.
ballots = a list of ballots, where each ballot is a list B with each
B[i] = the rank (1=best) of candidate #i"""
if not ballots:
return []
n = len(ballots[0]) # number of candidates
matrix = [[0] * n for i in xrange(n)]
for ballot in ballots:
if len(ballot) != n:
raise ValueError("ballots have unequal lengths")
for i in xrange(n):
for j in xrange(n):
if ballot[i] < ballot[j]: # i preferred over j
matrix[i][j] += 1Note that there's not even an explicit test for equal rankings.
(The GUI is simply a row of radio buttons for each candidate, each corresponding to a rank,)
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