ABSTRACT
The relationship between law and mathematics has been described as a “romance” which “has been for the most part a one-sided affair.” 1 Mathematicians historically have toyed with the idea of bringing their discipline to bear on social problems and their resolution, but lawyers and judges have proved to be a recalcitrant lot. Many lawyers apparently chose law school to escape those mysteries of all mysteries, mathematics and science. But, alas, our escape has proven to be an illusion. At every turn we are besieged with preference contours, choice sets, random samples, and statistical probabilities. 2 While many of us remain xenophobic to the core, greeting with hostility each new incursion into the world of “plausibility,” “commonsense” and “humanistic” thought, 3 frankness commands the admission that the affair has become serious. The one-sided romance has developed into a marriage of convenience, or, reflecting more recent conjugal innovations, a willingness to share the same quarters without the formalities of ceremony and family reception. 4
