UCLA Olga Radko Endowed Math Circle

4/15/2012 -- LAMC High School: The Gini Index -- Prof. Bob Brown

The "Occupy Wall Street" movement was concerned with the inequality of income in the U. S. Are the rich in the U. S. really getting richer and the poor getting poorer? How does the U. S. compare with other countries in this regard? The Gini Index is an important statistical tool for answering such questions. You will use geometry and some calculus to study its mathematical properties. In particular, we will investigate some mathematical models of income distribution and the corresponding Gini indices.
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