James said:
I suggest that narrower definitions, such as the one that Mike has formulated, are too narrow, in that it is necessary to choose one of several viable defeat strength definitions.
I reply:
I didn't formulate the definition that says a majority is a set of voters consisting of more than half of the people voting in a particular election. That's been used for a long time, and it's the main meaning for "majority".
A set of voters consisting of more than half of the people voting in an election are a uniquely powerful set of voters.
For such a set of voters, certain strategy guarantees can be made, which couldn't be made for a smaller set of voters.
There's nothing arbitrary about defining a term for a set of voters consisting of more than half of the people voting in an election. Majority is the term that's always been used to refer to such a set of voters. That's true even if "majority" is also sometimes used as a replacement for "pairwise defeat".
Mike Ossipoff
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