The compactness of a district -- a measure of how irregular its shape is, as determined by the ratio of the area of the district to the area of a circle with the same perimeter -- can serve as a useful proxy for how gerrymandered the district is. Districts that follow a generally regular shape tend to be compact, while those that have a lot of squiggles and offshoots and tentacle-looking protuberances tend to score poorly on this measure.
Gerrymander job is to manipulate the boundaries of an electoral constituency so as to favor a political party or class. My understanding on this passage is that because of the districts different shapes and not being in an equal ratio of area is not providing a fair electoral position for each political party. For a district's shape will not cover the same amount of perimeter as other districts. Now, if a district was to take a square or circle shape of equal perimeter its gerrymandered would be seen as it is and not how it has been manipulated.
I chose this passage because I believe that each party in the House of Representative should be represented in equal amount of representative in each side. By observing the maps in the readings, I see how the irregular shaped districts can differ in size, which also means that the population of the same is greater than others. I believe that district should have the same amount of territory covered by each district so it can have equal boundaries when it come to choosing a representative to represent a state in the House of Representatives.
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