So, very long time, no post. No weather photos lately (not that I've posted any in ages anyway), have a lot of crocheting projects I might post about at some other point, but this is going to be about calculus. I don't know if I've posted much about the kinds of classes I'm taking at KU, but I'm minoring in math to go with my atmospheric science degree, and I'm still trying to decide if I want to get a teaching certificate along with all of that (good backup since meteorology is a hard field to actually get into). Don't really want to teach in the state of Kansas because of Brownback, but at least it would be a job, I suppose.
Anyway, I took Math 121 last semester (spring), which is engineering calculus - it's Math 115 and 116 combined with a healthy dose of the tears of students. I went through two notebooks taking this course. It was not an easy course. I passed it with a C, and given the apparent failure rate of this course (I'll explain in a minute), that's kind of like getting an A. So I'm pretty happy with my grade in 121, but the next in the original sequence was Math 122, and apparently that one is even worse. KU is in the process of changing their calculus sequence because of the failure rate of this sequence, so it will more or less jive with other universities' calculus sequences (also making it simpler to transfer credits). The original sequence was Math 121, 122, and 223 - the last being vector calculus. KU has decided to deemphasize vector calculus in favor of spreading the information out a little bit more, so Math 125 now covers about three quarters of Math 121, Math 126 covers the end of 121 and the beginning of 122, and Math 127 covers the rest of 122 and the important parts of Math 223. So basically the new calculus sequence teaches the same material (except less emphasis on vectors), but makes it easier to learn so more people can pass it.
Now that we've covered the (long, drawn-out) explanation of the types of calculus classes available at KU (ignoring the honors classes because there's only so much flogging a person can take), I can explain why KU is trying to kill me again.
Because of where I am in the sequence, I had the option of taking either Math 122 or Math 126, since 121 works as a prerequisite for both. Given that I barely survived 121, when I spoke to the math department advisor about seeing if there was a 5 day a week small class for 122, she explained that KU is making the transition I explained above and that I could take 126, which is supposed to be a little easier and all the sections are 5 days a week. It's one less credit hour than 122, but 127 is also 4 credit hours (whereas 223 is 3 credit hours), so I still end up with more or less the same amount of credits in the calculus sequence overall. Obviously, I decided to take the easier option and enrolled in 126 for this fall, with the intention of taking 127 this spring.
Anyway, the book lists are available on the bookstore website now, so I went to figure out what I need to buy vs what I already own, and to see if I could get anything in an older edition because I'm cheap. While looking at the books, I noticed that the author of the math book for my new calculus class is the same as the author of the calculus textbook I already own, so I emailed the math department to see if I had to buy a whole new book, and their admin assistant emailed me this morning and about gave me a heart attack. She told me that the text is the same book but the regular version instead of the custom version KU was using for the old calc sequence, and that it also had Webassign (whatever that is), but that I shouldn't be enrolled in Math 126, I should be enrolled in Math 122. I emailed her a very brief response and then decided that this warranted a phone call and called to find out what the hell was going on. She said that the sequence was supposed to be 121 and then 122, and that 126 was part of the 125, 126, 127 sequence, and that since I had taken 121, I should be in 122. I then looked up the prerequisites for 126 and said that it said I could take 126 with a prereq of 121 and told her what the math department advisor said to me about how I could switch sequences and that I'd basically be getting a little review before moving on to new things, and the admin assistant told me she's not a mathematician, and that if that's what the advisor said, to go with that. Then she explained the book thing more thoroughly and that we don't have a course coordinator because there's only 3 sections of 126 this semester, and that TAs are in the process of being assigned courses right now.
So basically everything is fine, I have to spend a ton of money on a book I already own most of (the custom book skips a chapter), and the administrative assistant tried to answer a question I never asked.
KU is definitely trying to kill me.
