I’m not yet looking to discuss every comic strip with any mathematics mention. But something gnawed at me in this installment of Greg Evans and Karen Evans’s Luann. It’s about the classes Gunther says he’s taking.
The main characters in Luann are in that vaguely-defined early-adult era. They’re almost all attending a local university. They’re at least sophomores, since they haven’t been doing stories about the trauma and liberation of going off to school. How far they’ve gotten has been completely undefined. So here’s what gets me.
Gunther taking vector calculus? That makes sense. Vector calculus is a standard course if you’re taking any mathematics-dependent major. It might be listed as Multivariable Calculus or Advanced Calculus or Calculus III. It’s where you learn partial derivatives, integrals along a path, integrals over a surface or volume. I don’t know Gunther’s major, but if it’s any kind of science, yeah, he’s taking vector calculus.
Algebraic topology, though. That I don’t get. Topology at all is usually an upper-level course. It’s for mathematics majors, maybe physics majors. Not every mathematics major takes topology. Algebraic topology is a deeper specialization of the subject. I’ve only seen courses listed as algebraic topology as graduate courses. It’s possible for an undergraduate to take a graduate-level course, yes. And it may be that Gunther is taking a regular topology course, and the instructor prefers to focus on algebraic topology.
But even a regular topology course relies on abstract algebra. Which, again, is something you’ll get as an undergraduate. If you’re a mathematics major you’ll get at least two years of algebra. And, if my experience is typical, still feel not too sure about the subject. Thing is that Intro to Abstract Algebra is something you’d plausibly take at the same time as Vector Calculus. Then you’d get Abstract Algebra and then, if you wished, Topology.
So you see the trouble. I don’t remember anything in algebra-to-topology that would demand knowing vector calculus. So it wouldn’t mean Gunther took courses without taking the prerequisites. But it’s odd to take an advanced mathematics course at the same time as a basic mathematics course. Unless Gunther’s taking an advanced vector calculus course, which might be. Although since he wants to emphasize that he’s taking difficult courses, it’s odd to not say “advanced”. Especially if he is tossing in “algebraic” before topology.
And, yes, I’m aware of the Doylist explanation for this. The Evanses wanted courses that sound impressive and hard. And that’s all the scene demands. The joke would not be more successful if they picked two classes from my actual Junior year schedule. None of the characters have a course of study that could be taken literally. They’ve been university students full-time since 2013 and aren’t in their senior year yet. It would be fun, is all, to find a way this makes sense.
This and my other essays discussing something from the comic strips are at this link.
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