Ridiculous-Sounding Math Classes Currently Offered at Liberal-Arts Colleges
nymag.com
nymag.com
The first in the list is Topology, and as stated in the course catalog (http://www.slc.edu/undergraduate/study/science-mathematics/m...) it has calculus and instructor permission as prerequisites. I'm fairly certain Topology is considered advanced math in Asia too.
Some of the other ones in the list seem bogus, however.
This is real, serious mathematics. I think that painting this as nonsense shows that the writer doesn't have the strongest background in mathematics.
If you major in pure math, a lot of it does fit more in with liberal arts than it does with, say, electrical engineering. At least one great mathematician of the past boasted about how his work had no practical value. (G.H. Hardy)
At these smaller liberal arts schools, math majors are often preparing to be math teachers, so learning how mathematics ties in with history, theatre, art and literature can be very helpful as a teaching aide in the future.
The other thing is students at these institutions have to take a required number of "liberal arts" credits. The school will offer courses like this so that the math majors can pick up these credits from the math department, instead of the math majors having to take Theatre 101 or whatever.
All that said, I thought the course titles sounded quite interesting.