EXAMPLE 11 Apportioning Classes by the Jefferson Method

The teacher can be assigned five classes. There are 52 students enrolled in geometry, 33 in precalculus, and 15 in calculus. The calculations to determine her teaching assignment by the Jefferson method are shown in Table 14.12. We determined in Example 2 (page 577) that the standard divisor is 20, so we’ll use 18 as our first trial divisor.

588

This time, our starting divisor was too large (only three sections were apportioned). We need to try a smaller divisor. With , 6 sections would be apportioned. Thus, the Jefferson divisor has to be more than 15 and less than 18. it turns out that works as a divisor, resulting in 3 geometry classes and 2 precalculus classes. There will be no calculus class because the 15 students enrolled are not enough for a class when the minimum class must have at least 16 students.