October 30, 2009

Contact:
Felecia Henderson
Associate Director, Public Affairs
fhenders@nova.edu
(954) 262-5315

America’s Idol? How the Contestant Most Voted for Doesn’t Always Win
Nova Southeastern University Presents an Examination of the Voting Biases Prevalent in the TV Show “American Idol”

FT. LAUDERDALE (DAVIE), FLA –Nova Southeastern University (NSU) will host a forum on Nov. 4 which will examine the voting biases prevalent in the popular television show American Idol.

Jason Gershman, Ph.D., assistant professor and coordinator of mathematics in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences’ Division of Math, Science, and Technology, will present the fifth talk in the college’s Mathematics Colloquium Series entitled, “America’s Idol? How the Contestant Most Voted for Doesn’t Always Win”. The talk will take place from 12 to 1 p.m., in the Mailman-Hollywood Building located on NSU’s main campus in Davie-room 310.

The reality television show American Idol is a hit among audiences, with each weekly episode drawing millions of viewers. Its popularity stems in part because of viewer participation. Viewers are given an opportunity to “vote” for their favorite singers each season, eventually crowning a new idol. However, there are some biases in the show’s format, which display themselves in data charts and curves of contestants’ telephone voting patterns.

In this lecture, Gershman will examine bias such as issues of geography and performance order. The data used is intriguing because it comes from an extremely biased sample but leads to an unbiased population estimate. Overall, this is a fascinating-and somewhat counterintuitive-problem in applied probability and queuing theory.

All NSU students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend this talk. For more information on this lecture or the college’s Mathematics Colloquium Series, please email vp80@nova.edu  or is162@nova.edu.