An Envy Free Solution to the Rent Division Problem

Writing for the New York Times, Albert Sun describes how a paper by MAA President-Elect Francis Su helped him and his two roommates figure out how to divide the rent for their Manhattan apartment.

In "Rental Harmony: Sperner's Lemma in Fair Division," Su explained how the mathematical proposition called Sperner's lemma can be applied to the problem of splitting monthly housing costs such that no party feels cheated.

“The trick is to design a procedure to have everyone act in their own self-interest and have an outcome that’s fair,” said Su.

Read the story.