Another Sorting Question!

Question

Ok, I already asked something like this, but I was unsure about what to do.
But now I know.
I want to create a linked list of items. each item has a String and an int.
in a different class, i want to create a linked list of these items, inserted in random order.
what i want to do is sort the list alphabetically by the String.
package political;
import java.util.Comparator;
public class Item {
     String s, state;
     int p, people;
     public Item (String s, int p)
          people = p; state = s;
     public String name ()
     {return state;}
     public void printer () {System.out.println(state + " "+ people);}
}

Answer 1

You mean you don't understand the arithmetic involved in dividing a given number into given ratios? Or the details of how the US electoral votes in particular are determined?
The latter will be described at Wikipedia I would guess.
The former is straightfoward. Suppose there were just three states with populations given by A: 100 B: 200 C:500 and you wanted to share 10 votes between them.
First determine the proportion of the entire population (100+200+500=800) that each state has. A: 100/800=0.125, B: 200/800=0.25 C:500/800=0.625.
Then multiply these by the number of votes to be shared. A: 0.125*10=1.25, B: 0.25*10=2.5, C: 0.625*10=6.25
So A gets 1 vote, B gets 2 votes and C gets 6 votes.
The problem is that there is one vote left over. I seem to recall reading years ago (when I was a student - over half a life time ago!) that the US has used different strategies at different times. To suit whoever could best stack the electoral authorities. You could argue that B gets the extra vote (because B's "left over" 0.5 is biggest) or that C should have it (because C's "left over" represents the largest number of people 0.25*500=125). Or you could come up with other algorithms. As I said Wikipedia is sure to document the currently used process.
Edited by: pbrockway2 on Jan 11, 2008 7:32 PM
This page has details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Electoral_College
In fact the number of votes is determined by the number of Representatives and Senators each state has in the US Congress (except for DC which rides a bicycle).
It's the House of Representatives that is fixed in size (currently 435) dished out in proportion to the decennial census count. I can't find any details about the exact allocation of the "left over" representatives, the details of the process are apparently specified by the Reapportionment Act of 1929 and the Apportionment Act of 1941.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Size_of_the_U.S._House_of_Representatives
Edited by: pbrockway2 on Jan 11, 2008 8:04 PM
There is a discussion of the apportionment problem beginning on page 32 here:
http://www.maths.sussex.ac.uk/Staff/JH/MIEL/MIELUpdated.pdf
The first method I described (give the extras to those with the highest decimal parts) is called "Hamilton's Method". George Washington vetoed this proposal in 1790: he didn't like the fact that Maryland (akin to state B) would get a representative that should have gone to Delaware (C).
Apparently no "paradox free" solution is possible (Balinski and Young's theorem).
The actual method used since 1942 - "Hill's method" - is described in detail.