In 2015, the U.S. Air Force had a fleet of approximately 281 A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft. Suppose that the Air Force administration wanted to distribute 27 aircrafts across six bases based on the number of qualified pilots stationed at those bases. Use the information in the table below to answer each question.
| Base | Pilots |
| (A) Alpha | 13 |
| (B) Bravo | 12 |
| (C) Charlie | 5 |
| (D) Delta | 16 |
| (E) Echo | 7 |
| (F) Foxtrot | 9 |
- Identify the states, the seats, and the state population (the basis for the apportionment) in this scenario.
- Find the standard divisor for the apportionment of the aircraft. Round to four decimal places as needed. Include the units.
- Find each Air Force base’s standard quota for the apportionment of the aircraft. Round to the nearest hundredth as needed. What are the units?
- How does this example demonstrate the apportionment problem? Will traditional rounding solve the problem?
OpenStax Contemporary Mathematics, 11.4 Apportionment Methods, exercise 3