By statute, there are 435 members in the U.S. House of Representatives. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Congress can, at any time, add new seats by passing a new law. Unless major changes are made, the new ones would be awarded to states according to the same formula currently used, which seems to be the most logical method available.

In the formula, which you can see at right, P is a state’s population and n is the number of seats it currently has. The state that has n seats and produces the largest A value at any point in the process is next in line to gain its next seat. The formula ensures at each point that the next seat added goes to the state that (1) is farthest from the average per district population AND (2) does not become farther from the average if it is given an additional seat.