Alabama and Clemson have been the two best programs in the FBS the past two seasons. The Crimson Tide are 28-1 since the start of the 2015 season and have won 26 consecutive games. Clemson is 27-2 and looking to complete its second straight 14-1 season. Saban and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney have led their respective programs to 10-plus wins each of the past six seasons. These are the only two Power 5 programs that can say that.

Introduction

The primary reason for the establishment of the decennial census of population is set forth in Article 1, Section 2, of the Constitution. The Constitution provides for an enumeration of the population to serve as the basis for the apportionment of members of the U.S. House of Representatives among the states, with the provision that each state must have at least one representative. From 1790 to the present, an apportionment has been made on the basis of each census, except following the census of 1920.

Calculation of a Congressional apportionment requires three factors--the apportionment population of each state, the number of representatives to be allocated among the states, and a method to use for the calculation.

How It's Calculated

The Constitution provides that each state will have a minimum of one member in the U.S. House of Representatives, and then the apportionment calculation divides the remaining 385 seats among the 50 states. Congress decides the method used to calculate the apportionment.

The method for calculating the apportionment has changed over time. The methods used through most of the 20th century have been based upon the use of a mathematically determined priority listing of states. Adopted by Congress in 1941 and used each census thereafter, the method of equal proportions also results in a listing of the states according to a priority value--calculated by dividing the population of each state by the geometric mean of its current and next seats--that assigns seats 51 through 435. The method of equal proportions is calculated according to provisions of Title 2, U.S. Code.

Equal Proportions Method

P - represents a state's total population

n - represents the number of seats a state would have if it gained a seat (because all states automatically received one seat the next seat gained is "seat two," and the next "seat three," and the next "seat four," and so on.)

The multiplier equals:
1 divided by the square root of n(n-1) 1/
(which is called the reciprocal of the geometric mean). Computing these values is quite easy using a PC and a good spreadsheet package.

Thus the formula for calculating the multiplier for the second seat is:
1 divided by the square root of 2(2-1)
or 1/1.414213562 or 0.70710678

the multiplier for the third seat is:
1 divided by the square root of 3(3-1)
1/2.449489743 or 0.40824829

the multiplier for the fourth seat is:
1 divided by the square root of 4(4-1)
1/3.464101615 or 0.288675134

Continue until an appropriate number of multipliers have been calculated.

Once the "multipliers" have been calculated, the next step is to multiply this figure by the population total for each of the 50 states (the District of Columbia is not included in these calculations). The resulting numbers are the priority values. Make sure you compute enough multipliers to cover the largest amount of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives that any one state stands to gain. Multipliers and priority values must be calculated for the largest number of seats assigned to a state. For example, if the largest number of seats assigned to a state is 50, multipliers and priority values must be calculated for the 50th seat. If you are using a PC, compute multipliers for seats 2 through 60. This will assure you have enough multipliers for apportionment.

Once you've calculated priority values for each state for the total anticipated seats, the next step is to rank and number the resulting priority values starting with seat 51 until all 435 seats have been assigned (remember, each state automatically received one seat). Next, tally the number of seats for each state to arrive at the total number of seats in the House of Representatives apportioned to each state.

Multipliers and Priority Values

• Table of multipliers for seats 2 through 60. TXT - 2.9K

• Priority values for House seats 51 through 440 for Census 2000 apportionment]. TXT - 7.8K

• Priority values for House seats 51 through 440 for the 1990 census apportionment. TXT - 19K