# What is the definition of "majority". More than half? 50%+1? Both?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-majority-more-than-half-50-1-both/1009724>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 5, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-majority-more-than-half-50-1-both/1009724 "2024-11-05T16:08:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-majority-more-than-half-50-1-both/1009724/21 "2024-11-05T17:59:17Z")

</div>

> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> My issue is that a majority is more than half.

My issue is that this is a ridiculous issue to bring up in an MPSIMS thread.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-majority-more-than-half-50-1-both/1009724/22 "2024-11-05T18:01:55Z")

</div>

> [@Cheesesteak](#):
>
> My issue is that this is a ridiculous issue to bring up in an MPSIMS thread.

Your opinion.  
But I will note that I broke it off to bring it to GD, you did not.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-majority-more-than-half-50-1-both/1009724/23 "2024-11-05T18:08:24Z")

</div>

Precisely 50% is clearly not a majority: that would be, at best, a draw. Therefore you need more than half: if N is the total number of votes and a is the number you need, we have

a \> \frac{N}{2}.

Nothing fancy means that a must be an integer. In that case, we can strengthen the above inequality to

a \> \left\lfloor\frac{N}{2}\right\rfloor.

That means the smallest number of votes that works is \lfloor N/2\rfloor+1, so the “+1 stuff” is merely a reformulation, not saying anything different to “more than half”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-majority-more-than-half-50-1-both/1009724/24 "2024-11-05T18:09:59Z")

</div>

> [@DPRK](#):
>
> so the “+1 stuff” is merely a reformulation, not saying anything different to “more than half”.

And assuming whole votes sure. But the 50%+1 crowd do not use the floor function in their definition.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-majority-more-than-half-50-1-both/1009724/25 "2024-11-05T18:44:07Z")

</div>

Closed for review, too many flags coming in.

I spoke to **Saint\_Cad** , we agreed, we’ll leave this closed.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-majority-more-than-half-50-1-both/1009724.md?page=1)