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The table below shows the data from a past United States census. Complete parts ​(a) and ​(b) below. Connecticut ​236,841 New York ​331,589 Delaware ​55,540 North Carolina ​353,523 Georgia ​70,835 Pennsylvania ​432,879 Kentucky ​68,705 Rhode Island ​68,446 Maryland ​278,514 South Carolina ​206,236 Massachusetts ​475,327 Vermont ​85,533 New Hampshire ​141,822 Virginia ​630,560 New Jersey ​179,570 Total ​3,615,920

a. Find the standard divisor if 85 seats are allowed in Congress.
b. Find the standard quota for Virginia.

1 Answer

3 votes

a. Using division operation, the standard divisor is 42,483.06.

b. The standard quota for Virginia is 14.85.

The standard divisor refers to the quotient of the total population divided by the number of seats or other distributable allocations.

Population:

Connecticut ​236,841

New York ​331,589

Delaware ​55,540

North Carolina ​353,523

Georgia ​70,835

Pennsylvania ​432,879

Kentucky ​68,705

Rhode Island ​68,446

Maryland ​278,514

South Carolina ​206,236

Massachusetts ​475,327

Vermont ​85,533

New Hampshire ​141,822

Virginia ​630,560

New Jersey ​179,570

Total ​3,615,920

a. Standard divisor = Total population / Number of seats

= 3,615,920 / 85

= 42,483.06 (rounded to two decimal places)

b. Standard quota for Virginia = Population of Virginia / Standard divisor

= 630,560 / 42,483.06

= 14.85 (rounded to two decimal places)

Thus, we conclude that the standard divisor is 42,483.06, while the standard quota for Virginia is 14.85.

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