actually, what’s crazy is they’re ALL taking Calculus their freshman year–I took it ’cause I just expected to have to take some kind of maths every year, then it ended up counting as an ELECTIVE |=o
Well, Walkyverse Joyce was into Math, I’m assuming Dina is going for a science degree so probably has to take it, and I’m guessing Walky’s mom picked out at least some of his classes and wants him to be pre-med. Not sure about Sal, Mike, or Billie, though.
Yeah, I know, but his mom also says she’s hoping he’ll still change his mind, and I can see her at least saying ‘well, you have to take these, but can choose the rest’ (thus Gender Studies, since he was the one taking it because it’s an easy English credit).
They’re *all* taking calculus in their 1st year? Of course they are.
Because Maths is awesome! 😀
(said the Maths graduate, cough cough)
I wonder, how much of Walky’s reaction in the last couple of panels is due to a) Dorothy mentioning that he can get top grades while not studying even though he just barely passed a test, b) Dorothy referring to him as “her boy”, and c) post-coital brainfreeze? 😛
Calculus was part of my major requirements; I could chose that or biometry (physiology was one of my majors <3). But yeah, it's weird for Billie, because journalism majors in my school tended to take statistics or something easier to get the math requirement out of the way fast. Do we know what majors the others are? I just know Joyce's is education, and Walky's is communications. I would guess Dina's is archeology, or evolutionary biology.
Interesting that the Journalism majors are taking statistics when it seems to be an unwritten rule that Journalists must misinterpret every statistic they run across. They are forever making the mistake of “correlation = causation.”
‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.’
(Mark Twain attributed it to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli but there is no solid evidence he ever said it – only that Mr. Clemens wrote it down and attributed it to Mr. Disraeli)
Learning what kinds of statistical tests might exist in an introductory stats class takes you nowhere near understanding how to interpret statistics and experimental design, or even just when a particular test is appropriate (given real-world data that doesn’t have a solution in the back of the book).
What can happen is you take the same test multiple times, answer each question the exact same each time, and be completely unable to predict whether you pass or fail each time. Your pass/fail ratio will be measurable, however.
Quantum mechanics requires a good background in math, yes. But once you get beyond the hydrogen atom (a foreign concept to physicists), a background in chemistry really helps, too.
As a chem major, I took the course (mandatory for me), got hopelessly confused, and somehow passed. Although, if I took it again, I might fail. Grades are inherently uncertain in quantum mechanics.
Naw, that’s totally normal at IU (probably at other places too, but you know me, I never miss an opportunity to be the expert). Tons of my friends are taking it right now. They take it to get done with the basic requirement and then expect not to have to take any more math in college.
Hmm, maybe they have an adviser that is setting them up to fail. I’m sure they all have to take a math class anyway as a requirement to graduate, that’s pretty standard. But if you aren’t in a STEM major, they should be an easier math class they could take.
Come to think of it, I don’t remember what everyone’s major was, except for Walky being communications. I can see Dorothy taking Calc. regardless because of the challenge, she has to prove she’s Yale material after all. Walky might have taken it just because he’s cocky. But why is Sal taking calculus, what’s her major?
IIRC, taking math through at least Precalculus was the “normal” level at my high school. My local big university (also a Big 10 school like IU) required 4 years of math for admissions with precalculus being the expected last year of math, with some calculus being preferred. Walky, Dorothy, Sal, and all the others taking Calc I to take care of their math requirement seems normal to me.
I took through about Calc II though (AP Calc BC) because I was super advanced, and therefore didn’t have to do a class to get my math requirement, so I may be wrong.
Here in California, we have pretty similar requirements in general. Having taken AP Calc AB, I was able to get out of the first class in our Calculus series. But as an engineer, I’m still taking a freckled-buttload of other math.
For the record, encouraging someone to take Calc I is NOT “setting them up to fail.” Calc I is not hard as long as you don’t panic about it.
There seems to be this binary, where people who are outside STEM don’t have to take core math classes, but people in STEM still have to take core English classes. It’s pretty irritating that we’re assuming people who take math will automatically fail.
The problem with calculus is that its difficulty is pretty much dependent on how strong your foundation is in algebra and trigonometry. A calculus teacher will (hopefully) teach you the calculus part, but assume you are comfortable with everything else, which isn’t always the case.
Other math classes you could probably take such as statistics or discrete math is more self-contained, and is usually a safer bet if you know you aren’t going into a STEM major. I’d also argue that statistics is generally more useful to know as well, even though very few majors require taking statistics.
I would call a full year of calculus in your freshman year a trial by fire. If you’re coasting like Walky is, you’ll inevitably fail the first quiz on concepts that are completely new to you. After that, you need to learn how to study like a college student, and fast.
If you do get your act together, you’re in a good position to start tackling the actual hard courses.
I dunno, Calc II was my easiest class the spring of my freshman year. Admittedly, I tested out of Calc I, but god forbid you give me a problem that requires trig knowledge beyond SOH CAH TOA because I will not do that correctly.
But stats…stats leave me quaking in my boots. I dread the likely stats class(es) I’ll have to take in grad school because I just DO NOT get stats.
People in STEM fields will eventually have to write research papers (or something similar- they will have to be able to communicate efficiently through writing, at the very least). An English major, on the other hand, will probably never need more than basic math skills.
At the university I went to, Calculus was the lowest-level math course that counted for actual credit, regardless of your intended major, anything lower-level was considered ‘remedial’. The classes existed, but didn’t count towards either elective or degree requirements.
That said, if your major was in the College of Arts & Sciences, you had to take a certain number of credit hours (15 or 20) of ‘sciences’ of which math was one. Formal logic classes (in the philosophy major) counted, as did all the hard sciences and I think some linguistics, so if math itself wasn’t required for your major, there were ways around it.
I had to take one math class to graduate (as an English major). I took a course called “Math for the Behavioral Sciences.” Everyone called it “Math for Trees” (as in, not even sentience was required to pass a course this easy). I *stayed* in the professor’s office hours. I managed to pass and with a good grade, to my surprise. But all I remember is that it had to do with sets . . .
It’s funny that you mention that. Last time I visited the dentist, he told me that plaque accumulates over time, and in order to see how much is on your teeth now you have to integrate the rate at which plaque accumulates over the last six months. The rate at which plaque accumulates is proportional to how much you brush your teeth. So: brush your teeth, because calculus.
What’s worse is if you took AP exams. I was in Calc 3 freshman year and they put all the freshmen eligible for Calc 3 in the same classes. That curve sucked!
Technically we don’t know for sure whether Dorothy is taking Math. Walky said he brought his Calculus book, but he never said he wanted Dorothy to study the same stuff has he was. And when she said to “bring their books” she could mean for separate courses so they could each study separate subjects at the same time.
(I know they probably are both taking Calculus; I’m just saying there are other ways to interpret the comic.)
Dorothy isn’t taking Calculus, as far as we know. Walky’s just mentioning that he brought his book. You can study together without studying the same subject.
In fact, the only classes we know Dorothy takes are Gender Studies and Intro to Logic. We don’t even know what her degree is.
True – but if she wanted to go into some fields of sociology or psycology she would need to take Calculus-based statistics. The really, really simple non-calc based statistics that a lot of people isn’t worth squat, except to convince them (falsely) that they understand statistics.
Well, Dorothy wants to transfer to Yale (with the ultimate goal of becoming president). To be honest, I’m not sure if sociology or psychology would be the best options for that.
She could be taking some sort of pre-law, or economics/business (that might be a bit more geared towards a life in politics). Or maybe she is just going for a general arts degree until she can transfer to Yale and pick a program more suitable to her long term goals.
It would still puzzle me what her courseload is like, especially if she’s not doing Math with the rest of the crew. I wouldn’t put it past her to have already covered whatever is in freshman Calculus on her own and deciding her electives are better spent elsehwere, namely the sociological classes that aren’t really covered as well in textbooks.
Dorothy being Dorothy, I’m guessing she took all the AP classes she could cram into her schedule in high school, and placed out of Calc I and is in a different, more advanced calculus class. Or maybe she’s just in a different section; there’s certainly more than one. Even if that weren’t self-evident on a campus of 45,000, we’ve seen one of the others. And she had no reason to try to arrange her schedule to be in the same class as any of the others, because she didn’t know any of them before move-in day. Other schedule-optimization parameters would probably have taken priority, anyway.
Good catch. I had totally forgotten about that little bit of dialog.
So yeah, it does look like she’s taking some calculus. Whether its the same course that the others are taking or an alternate (advanced) course is unknown.
Well if you study for a test during a sexual euphoria, you need to have sex immediately prior to taking that test so your brain is in a similar state and you can get the most out of the studying. (What, it’s totally a thing)
“No? But I really need this! I had sex before studying, and if I don’t get laid before this test, I won’t be ready for it!
–
Okay, okay, let’s stay calm. Put the pepper spray down…”
For way longer than I care to admit I thought “26” was a new form of slang referring to one’s girlfriend or something. And then I went oh right that was Walky’s quiz score okay.
Cool, man. Marv. Read, bro. Are you hip to the groove? Young people have always developed ways of communicating which others have trouble with. And when I say always, me old China, I really do mean always. Sick!
It’ll update at 12:01 AM EDT. That means it’ll go from updating at 05:01 UTC to 04:01 UTC, so if your locale doesn’t suffer from DST, it’ll be updating an hour earlier on your clock.
The Roomies!/It’s Walky! site for some reason is stuck on Daylight Saving Time year-round, so it updates an hour early in the winter.
I believe that it depends where you are. In the US the comic posts at midnight in the Eastern Zone. When DST resumes on March 8 in the US it should post at the same time anywhere/everywhere that also switches to DST then.
When she suggested going out my mind immediately jumped to going to a disco and then I was like “why the hell would they go to a disco it’s 2015” and then I realized that The Goofy Movie 2 had permanently linked college and disco for me and now I think they should go to a disco
Jenaside, calculus was an Elective? at your school. Good grief.
Mine required 4 years of math, history, science, English, and 2 years of a language. That was high school.
College added 2 hour labs, and 3 books a week read, and reported on, for English.
But, that was back when the US was at the top in education.
“You’re going to do Calculus, eh? Does this ‘Calculus’ have nice legs?”
“Yes, yes, I’m going to be the derivative so I can be the area under her curves, whatever.”
“…So a glossy hard cover, then.”
Dorothy’s a cutey. Incidentally, I think this might be the final main cast member to be pantsless on panel at least once, with the exception of Danny, Ethan, or maybe Joyce, but I am pretty sure we’ve seen Joyce’s undies before. She’s shorter, so it’s not quite as obvious as Sarah, who does it easily the most. This concludes “stuff no one cares about”.
I’m almost positive we saw it once with her and Sarah in their room, but if so, it wasn’t super obvious. Just seeing a little bit of leg that would make shorts unlikely. I find goofy trivia like this interesting, I guess. If we count official art, then we’ve seen it for sure with her sitting on a dryer in one of the pinup pics.
Second link, pretty sure that’s her leg showing. unless those are VERY short shorts, I think we’re seein’ undies, they just happen to be the same color as her PJ shorts sometimes are.
So, what’s the odds look like about someone coming in here in a snit and going on a tirade because Dots referred to Walk-Walk as “my boy” sometime in the next 50 posts?
I forgot about that, I remember an interview decades ago when Bert Newton called Muhammad Ali a boy not realising that in the US that calling a black man a boy was a racial slur at the time.
LOL I’ve seen that, Daniel the Human likes the Ali guy. They were doing a presentation bit together, I think it was a TV award show, Ali said some stuff, then Bert said “I like the boy!” as a compliment, but Ali took it as a racial insult. Bert had to backpedal out of that 1 quick…
Walky tell her about the grades. Walky. Walky I know you probably aren’t gonna but tell her about the grades, if ANYONE has the fear of getting bad grades it’s Dorothy, she will Understand. Like, seriously, talk to Dorothy.
Aaaaand tomorrow will continue Walky’s not-talking-to-Dorothy streak I’m just so
That’s quite a smile in the middle panel. “C:” It’s gonna reverse when Walky finally spits it out. The paper, that is. After he gets ill from the stress of it.
Am I the only one who thinks Dotty’s really bad about reading people?
First Joyce spells out her relationship with Ethan to her using the brilliant cover of “my friend, not me” and she still doesn’t figure out what’s going on until later from Becky’s exchange with her.
Now, Walky’s been upset about something and suddenly asks her to study, something even she acknowledges is outside the norm, and she can’t put two and two together?
She’s not exceptional at reading people but I wouldn’t call her bad. I think it’s more like she need time to connect the dots. With Joyce she was clearly upset about something gay related, and 5 seconds later Dorothy learns that Becky is out-of-the-closet and on the run. It was not hard to jump to conclusions, but a few hours later Dorothy had figured it out.
With Walky they talked about Joyce problem relationship with Ethan and Dorothy got sad about the mess Joyce has put herself in (and guilt about what she herself could have done differently). Walky told her that he had figured out Ethan being gay and then he got sad. It’s not a big stretch that Dorothy he got sad for the same reason as her (or because she talked about their relationship with hints of a coming breakup). She’ll probably figure it out their next studying session.
In fact, if I as an over-analytically inclined reader had read this comic without having been shown Walky’s bad grades at math, I would have assumed that this had to do with his and Dorothy’s relationship.
“Uh… What about we do stuff YOU like to do tonight like… study?”
“Nah, let’s to stuff you like.”
“But I’m uncomfortable with you making sacrifices on my behalf, especially when this relationship is wobbling and we don’t know if it will stay casual or be more serious and what will happen if you transfer.”
“No, no, I insist, stuff you like it is.*”
“But… I’m not sure I know where I want this relationship to go”.
That’s how I would have read it, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable if Dorothy does the same.
*) Stuff you like is the name of an awesome web review show by the way
I’m reminded of her statement that, after being missing without contact for a whole day, Billie suddenly walks back in and Dorothy deduces that she’s in love.
I mean, she was right, but she also applied her being lovesick to the actual depression Billie was experiencing that day.
That’s a good point. I suppose Dorothy’s attitude could be described as “kinda right but missing a larger piece of the puzzle, but still certain that she is right.”
OK, so that sums up basically everyone’s attitude.
Anyway, her interaction with amazie-girl follows the same pattern (she’s so in awe with amazie-girl’s amazing-ness that she misses hints of all the underlying problems).
In both of those cases, there’s more than one thing going on (Joyce’s best friend is a lesbian on the run from her asshole father and Joyce’s mom is calling probably looking for her, Joyce is dating a gay guy; Walky is having issues with their relationship direction, Walky is failing math), and having uncovered part of it, she didn’t realize that there was a need to keep digging for more. And in both cases, the second part is something that the subject is being extra-cagy about revealing to her anyway, so because they’re her friends and she cares about their feelings and boundaries, she’s not going to push any more than she has to.
I know this is a big deal for Walky, but I can’t see anyone actually thinking less of him for having to study. Sal, Billie and (maybe) Joyce will laugh and say good riddance that wonder boy is brought down to the level of the rest of us.
Dorothy will be sympathetic and (gently) teasing, and then she will be delighted to have a new project. I just hope you are read for some heavy duty study regim, Walky
It will be interesting to see if he starts studying, yet can’t bring his grades back up. (As other posters have said in other comics… studying is a skill, and Walky has not developed it.) Will Dorothy want to keep dating him if he risks failing?
That would be a neat mirror of Sal who started with hard work but didn’t develop a good technique until Danny helped her. Walky has neither work ethics or study technique so he has twice the way to go.
On the other hand I can’t think of a better teacher in technique than Dorothy, and he already admitted to himself and (kinda) her that he needs to study harder so I’m sure he’s getting there.
I really can’t see Dorothy dump him because of study results. He has already impressed her with his smarts and his heart and his monkey-toy. MAYBE he wouldn’t have caught her attention without his good grades, but they are way past that point now.
What I think we will get are a few montages of Walky fighting the hard fight against BORING and Dorothy finding ways to… motivate him. Maybe even help him develop some kind of career plans which will lead neatly into a confrontation with his mother about med school.
I just love Dorothy’s backtracking in the last panel. “Lalala, I got laid, I love Walky, let’s do something wild and crazy and NOT STUDY…. well, MAYBE not study. Let’s not be crazy crazy here.”
“Tell you what, let’s split the difference. We’ll go to Galasso’s and discuss the strange and terrible gender dynamics of the restaurant industry, and then you can figure out how to calculate the average amount of pepperoni that can fit on a large pizza—calculating by both weight and surface area, of course… What? What’s wrong?”
This is major, major progress for Walky, even being willing to bring up studying. He honestly doesn’t specifically need to talk to Dorothy about the test right now. That would be nice, but it wouldn’t really be Walky. He needs time to process things. (I’m not gonna stop making that terrible joke until enough time passes that he must have evacuated the paper.) Poor guy, Dorothy is being so sweet and it’ll be a while before she finds out how sad it was that she brought up his perfect grades just then.
Yup, Walky is doing just the right thing – he admits to himself that he has to study (and given his tendency for being over dramatic that is kinda a big step rather than just emigrating or dropping out of school or something), and he doesn’t try to hide it from the one person who is his best chance for actually learning to study in an efficient way.
The timing is ironic as I just finished a calculus take-home exam and am now studying for our final (VOSOR and I are unlikely to be buddies any time soon). (First time around in college many moons ago, I was a lit major – nothing higher than college algebra required. Many life changes later, I’m now a farmer doing formal study of agricultural science – while some of this math is required, a lot of it is just the ‘easiest’ way to get the remaining credits needed for my degree. Weird lib arts colleges and their hardcore hidden sciences departments!)
Wait wait wait, is this ‘missed class’ she mentions the one from that strip forever ago? Because if it is that is a lot of drama crammed into a single week.
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THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND
[but take some caution along just in case, ’cause that’s CRAZY]
actually, what’s crazy is they’re ALL taking Calculus their freshman year–I took it ’cause I just expected to have to take some kind of maths every year, then it ended up counting as an ELECTIVE |=o
Well, Walkyverse Joyce was into Math, I’m assuming Dina is going for a science degree so probably has to take it, and I’m guessing Walky’s mom picked out at least some of his classes and wants him to be pre-med. Not sure about Sal, Mike, or Billie, though.
I think Walky’s major is telecommunications, and he’s almost worked up the guts to ask someone what that means.
Yeah, I know, but his mom also says she’s hoping he’ll still change his mind, and I can see her at least saying ‘well, you have to take these, but can choose the rest’ (thus Gender Studies, since he was the one taking it because it’s an easy English credit).
They’re *all* taking calculus in their 1st year? Of course they are.
Because Maths is awesome! 😀
(said the Maths graduate, cough cough)
I wonder, how much of Walky’s reaction in the last couple of panels is due to a) Dorothy mentioning that he can get top grades while not studying even though he just barely passed a test, b) Dorothy referring to him as “her boy”, and c) post-coital brainfreeze? 😛
Wait, you can NOT take a Math class during the year?
Wait, why would you DO that??
(Also a Maths grad)
What, there are first-year courses that DON’T include calculus?
(Also a math grad)
I’d already finished Calculus III before I even started college.
(Math undergrad, freshman)
Ahhh, calculus, I understood it well.
It was only when I went on to courses like Quantum Mechanics that I started to struggle… ;D
(Is now studying a professional accounting qualification)
hes probably still hoping it has something to do with telepathy
Calculus was part of my major requirements; I could chose that or biometry (physiology was one of my majors <3). But yeah, it's weird for Billie, because journalism majors in my school tended to take statistics or something easier to get the math requirement out of the way fast. Do we know what majors the others are? I just know Joyce's is education, and Walky's is communications. I would guess Dina's is archeology, or evolutionary biology.
Interesting that the Journalism majors are taking statistics when it seems to be an unwritten rule that Journalists must misinterpret every statistic they run across. They are forever making the mistake of “correlation = causation.”
‘There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.’
(Mark Twain attributed it to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli but there is no solid evidence he ever said it – only that Mr. Clemens wrote it down and attributed it to Mr. Disraeli)
A fact well corroborated from many sources and eagerly defended by Mr. Clemens is that Mr. Clemens was a liar.
Mr. Clemens had a well-developed natural defense mechanism against Star Trek computers.
He was in one episode, wasn’t he? Did he fight the computer?
Learning what kinds of statistical tests might exist in an introductory stats class takes you nowhere near understanding how to interpret statistics and experimental design, or even just when a particular test is appropriate (given real-world data that doesn’t have a solution in the back of the book).
Math is Joyce’s favorite subject
Now I know why I love Joyce’s character so much, then. I took my university degree in Maths, which is my fave subject too.
…even though I took Quantum Mechanics II in my third year and got a zero. 😛
I imagine in Quantum Mechanics you could get a 0 simultaneously as another grade.
Yes, but decoherence occurs rapidly.
What can happen is you take the same test multiple times, answer each question the exact same each time, and be completely unable to predict whether you pass or fail each time. Your pass/fail ratio will be measurable, however.
Quantum mechanics requires a good background in math, yes. But once you get beyond the hydrogen atom (a foreign concept to physicists), a background in chemistry really helps, too.
As a chem major, I took the course (mandatory for me), got hopelessly confused, and somehow passed. Although, if I took it again, I might fail. Grades are inherently uncertain in quantum mechanics.
Naw, that’s totally normal at IU (probably at other places too, but you know me, I never miss an opportunity to be the expert). Tons of my friends are taking it right now. They take it to get done with the basic requirement and then expect not to have to take any more math in college.
Hmm, maybe they have an adviser that is setting them up to fail. I’m sure they all have to take a math class anyway as a requirement to graduate, that’s pretty standard. But if you aren’t in a STEM major, they should be an easier math class they could take.
Come to think of it, I don’t remember what everyone’s major was, except for Walky being communications. I can see Dorothy taking Calc. regardless because of the challenge, she has to prove she’s Yale material after all. Walky might have taken it just because he’s cocky. But why is Sal taking calculus, what’s her major?
There’s also Finite. I have no idea how that compares in difficulty, though.
IIRC, taking math through at least Precalculus was the “normal” level at my high school. My local big university (also a Big 10 school like IU) required 4 years of math for admissions with precalculus being the expected last year of math, with some calculus being preferred. Walky, Dorothy, Sal, and all the others taking Calc I to take care of their math requirement seems normal to me.
I took through about Calc II though (AP Calc BC) because I was super advanced, and therefore didn’t have to do a class to get my math requirement, so I may be wrong.
Here in California, we have pretty similar requirements in general. Having taken AP Calc AB, I was able to get out of the first class in our Calculus series. But as an engineer, I’m still taking a freckled-buttload of other math.
Heh, Americans.
You don’t have to take any maths in Australia for a non-maths degree.
Same here. British university degrees only require modules directly related to teh degree.
Which for me was Maths. 🙂
That’s too bad. I like having a well-rounded education. Then again, it IS called a “Jeffersonian education”, so maybe it is just an American thing…
I wouldn’t necessarily call my major a maths one, but Computer Science and Engineering definitely involves a lot of it.
Maybe Sal is taking it because of the whole trying to impress the parents thing that was introduced at one point?
For the record, encouraging someone to take Calc I is NOT “setting them up to fail.” Calc I is not hard as long as you don’t panic about it.
There seems to be this binary, where people who are outside STEM don’t have to take core math classes, but people in STEM still have to take core English classes. It’s pretty irritating that we’re assuming people who take math will automatically fail.
The problem with calculus is that its difficulty is pretty much dependent on how strong your foundation is in algebra and trigonometry. A calculus teacher will (hopefully) teach you the calculus part, but assume you are comfortable with everything else, which isn’t always the case.
Other math classes you could probably take such as statistics or discrete math is more self-contained, and is usually a safer bet if you know you aren’t going into a STEM major. I’d also argue that statistics is generally more useful to know as well, even though very few majors require taking statistics.
I would call a full year of calculus in your freshman year a trial by fire. If you’re coasting like Walky is, you’ll inevitably fail the first quiz on concepts that are completely new to you. After that, you need to learn how to study like a college student, and fast.
If you do get your act together, you’re in a good position to start tackling the actual hard courses.
Oh, forgot to add – at my university, I was able to test out of English courses before my frshman year even began 🙂
I also had to test into Calc I, so there was some measure of sanity in that department as well.
I dunno, Calc II was my easiest class the spring of my freshman year. Admittedly, I tested out of Calc I, but god forbid you give me a problem that requires trig knowledge beyond SOH CAH TOA because I will not do that correctly.
But stats…stats leave me quaking in my boots. I dread the likely stats class(es) I’ll have to take in grad school because I just DO NOT get stats.
Heh, Calc II was so brutal for me, I nearly lost a scholarship. Had to appeal to get an extra quarter to recover my GPA.
People in STEM fields will eventually have to write research papers (or something similar- they will have to be able to communicate efficiently through writing, at the very least). An English major, on the other hand, will probably never need more than basic math skills.
Sal is sticking it to the (wo)man by proving that she can do everything Walky can (and she might actually succeed, if things keep going this way).
“Everything you can do, I can do better?”
Walky did Dorothy today. Next time on Dumbing of Age: CAN SAL DO DOROTHY BETTER?
At the university I went to, Calculus was the lowest-level math course that counted for actual credit, regardless of your intended major, anything lower-level was considered ‘remedial’. The classes existed, but didn’t count towards either elective or degree requirements.
That said, if your major was in the College of Arts & Sciences, you had to take a certain number of credit hours (15 or 20) of ‘sciences’ of which math was one. Formal logic classes (in the philosophy major) counted, as did all the hard sciences and I think some linguistics, so if math itself wasn’t required for your major, there were ways around it.
I had to take one math class to graduate (as an English major). I took a course called “Math for the Behavioral Sciences.” Everyone called it “Math for Trees” (as in, not even sentience was required to pass a course this easy). I *stayed* in the professor’s office hours. I managed to pass and with a good grade, to my surprise. But all I remember is that it had to do with sets . . .
The last time I had to deal with calculus was when I paid a visit to the dentist.
+1 for biting wit.
It’s funny that you mention that. Last time I visited the dentist, he told me that plaque accumulates over time, and in order to see how much is on your teeth now you have to integrate the rate at which plaque accumulates over the last six months. The rate at which plaque accumulates is proportional to how much you brush your teeth. So: brush your teeth, because calculus.
Eh – better to hear about calculus from your dentist than your nephrologist (kidney stones), urologist (bladder stones), or hepatologist (gallstones).
That’s a lot of stones. I can only conclude that you are either a med student or the unluckiest person alive.
What’s worse is if you took AP exams. I was in Calc 3 freshman year and they put all the freshmen eligible for Calc 3 in the same classes. That curve sucked!
Technically we don’t know for sure whether Dorothy is taking Math. Walky said he brought his Calculus book, but he never said he wanted Dorothy to study the same stuff has he was. And when she said to “bring their books” she could mean for separate courses so they could each study separate subjects at the same time.
(I know they probably are both taking Calculus; I’m just saying there are other ways to interpret the comic.)
I went to an engineering school. The idea of college students not taking Calculus is incredibly bizarre to me.
Right?
Dorothy isn’t taking Calculus, as far as we know. Walky’s just mentioning that he brought his book. You can study together without studying the same subject.
In fact, the only classes we know Dorothy takes are Gender Studies and Intro to Logic. We don’t even know what her degree is.
True – but if she wanted to go into some fields of sociology or psycology she would need to take Calculus-based statistics. The really, really simple non-calc based statistics that a lot of people isn’t worth squat, except to convince them (falsely) that they understand statistics.
Well, Dorothy wants to transfer to Yale (with the ultimate goal of becoming president). To be honest, I’m not sure if sociology or psychology would be the best options for that.
She could be taking some sort of pre-law, or economics/business (that might be a bit more geared towards a life in politics). Or maybe she is just going for a general arts degree until she can transfer to Yale and pick a program more suitable to her long term goals.
In hindsight, I’d completely forgotten that she was working through Advanced Calculus problems: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/02-choosing-my-religion/missile/
It would still puzzle me what her courseload is like, especially if she’s not doing Math with the rest of the crew. I wouldn’t put it past her to have already covered whatever is in freshman Calculus on her own and deciding her electives are better spent elsehwere, namely the sociological classes that aren’t really covered as well in textbooks.
Dorothy being Dorothy, I’m guessing she took all the AP classes she could cram into her schedule in high school, and placed out of Calc I and is in a different, more advanced calculus class. Or maybe she’s just in a different section; there’s certainly more than one. Even if that weren’t self-evident on a campus of 45,000, we’ve seen one of the others. And she had no reason to try to arrange her schedule to be in the same class as any of the others, because she didn’t know any of them before move-in day. Other schedule-optimization parameters would probably have taken priority, anyway.
Good catch. I had totally forgotten about that little bit of dialog.
So yeah, it does look like she’s taking some calculus. Whether its the same course that the others are taking or an alternate (advanced) course is unknown.
Trading Places, starring Dorothy and Walky.
Hehe, freckle butt.
Arguably the best kind of butt.
Well I’m the kinda guy who prefers big butts. I won’t lie.
They’re hardly mutually exclusive. I thought that big butts’ superiority was a given.
…oh shit, is this Butt’s Disease? Is this how it starts?
It’s only a matter of time before the merest sign of butts develops into full-blown #weirdbuttstuff.
Well, as another brother, I can’t deny that.
Now you got me thinking about freckle-punching. 😛
…punching, or pinching? Not all that many people are into the first one.
Freckle-punching is Aussie slang for butt-sex.
Huh. Learn something every day.
I’m Aussie and have never heard that one 😛
Clearly you never used to read Picture magazine back in the 90s.
Ruth is into it but with role reversal
For Billie, it means getting punched by a girl with freckles. So, it’s kinda a turn-on.
Dorothy is weird. Walky is confused, moreso that usual. And guilty.
I got an A in DANGER!
I study thoroughly each night.
I can’t remember the last time I studied. I’m just kinda smart. I’m just bad at memorizing things. And math.
butt
What what
In da butt
I said what what
butt butt
Butts disease tragically claims more victims.
And almost all of them are Carla.
Happy Dorothy is adorable.
Part of sexual euphoria is always to demand more studying.
I wish I had known that in college. Would have used it as a pickup line.
“Hey, Finals are coming up, bet if we sleep together it’ll bump us up at least a letter grade.”
The only time when “not wanting a ‘D'” becomes a good thing.
Unless you’re a lesbian, then you never want a D.
Well if you study for a test during a sexual euphoria, you need to have sex immediately prior to taking that test so your brain is in a similar state and you can get the most out of the studying. (What, it’s totally a thing)
I think they did that on Radiolab once, it’s totally legit.
“No? But I really need this! I had sex before studying, and if I don’t get laid before this test, I won’t be ready for it!
–
Okay, okay, let’s stay calm. Put the pepper spray down…”
Ohhh, so that’s how I should help my significant other deal with her test anxiety. Awesome!
Walky what have you done?!
Where are the abs?
Those fifty mcnugget binges adding up?…Nah! Walky’s probably one of those lucky bastards with a high metabolism.
Look at my food bills and then call us lucky. >.<
Oh, that reminds me! at burger king you can currently get 100 nuggets for 15 bucks
I can personally recommend never doing this
Why? Do their nuggets taste like ass?
after about the 45 mark, yes. ass and old shoe. before that it’s lovely
I think I will stick with 20 at the most then.
Same kind of lucky that gets great grades without studying? The two are similar in that at some point, real life catches up one way or another. 😛
In both cases, it ends in a heart attack.
He had a box of McNuggets as foreplay, and the full tummy is obstructing them?
Calculus exams are apparently a great way to put on weight.
They’re probably off studying calculus.
Maybe that’s what the squiggle on his stomach is supposed to represent? If so Willis should know that that is not at all satisfactorily sexy.
rhythmically pounding fists on table: WHERE ARE THE ABS? WHERE ARE THE ABS
I think maybe Walky should just confess to his 26 and study…or that hole is gonna get deeper.
Pffft that would be the smart decision. Better to play coy and hope he falls into Dorothy’s study schedule.
For way longer than I care to admit I thought “26” was a new form of slang referring to one’s girlfriend or something. And then I went oh right that was Walky’s quiz score okay.
I kinda wish 26 was the new BAE now.
When did all of these numbers become slang terms? “1337,” “86,” “69,” “34,” “h8!” Why won’t young people today speak in WORDS!
“lol u mad?”
Cool, man. Marv. Read, bro. Are you hip to the groove? Young people have always developed ways of communicating which others have trouble with. And when I say always, me old China, I really do mean always. Sick!
China… mate… Cockney slang has invaded the American webcomic
23 skidoo
Dramatic irony that, when revealed, would threaten Dorothy’s happiness right here. Classic Willis.
Now Walky is on a little big trouble
Will the Comic still update at the same time after Daylight savings? Or will it update an Hour later/Earlier? (I don’t really understand DLS)
It’ll still be updating at 12am est
It’ll update at 12:01 AM EDT. That means it’ll go from updating at 05:01 UTC to 04:01 UTC, so if your locale doesn’t suffer from DST, it’ll be updating an hour earlier on your clock.
The Roomies!/It’s Walky! site for some reason is stuck on Daylight Saving Time year-round, so it updates an hour early in the winter.
I believe that it depends where you are. In the US the comic posts at midnight in the Eastern Zone. When DST resumes on March 8 in the US it should post at the same time anywhere/everywhere that also switches to DST then.
Walky’s got some glass cutters
well they changed my gravatar from ethan. Somehow this one seems to fit the comment even better
That took me a second.
Glass cutters? Don’t know that one. Apparently there’s a tool called that, but it’s more fun to smash the stuff… 😛
When she suggested going out my mind immediately jumped to going to a disco and then I was like “why the hell would they go to a disco it’s 2015” and then I realized that The Goofy Movie 2 had permanently linked college and disco for me and now I think they should go to a disco
Walky can bring the Panic at the disco
FIRE IN THE DISCO
burn baby burn
DISCO INFERNO
Evacuate the dance floor!
We don’t need no water, let the motherhankypankyer burn
Burn motherhankypankyer, Burn…
Dorothy totally owns at least two white polyester suits.
Jenaside, calculus was an Elective? at your school. Good grief.
Mine required 4 years of math, history, science, English, and 2 years of a language. That was high school.
College added 2 hour labs, and 3 books a week read, and reported on, for English.
But, that was back when the US was at the top in education.
The top of what?
Haha, you can have your sexual euphoria. I get all my pleasure from sweets. I mean I will when my health improves.
“You’re going to do Calculus, eh? Does this ‘Calculus’ have nice legs?”
“Yes, yes, I’m going to be the derivative so I can be the area under her curves, whatever.”
“…So a glossy hard cover, then.”
omg cutie butt freckles omg omg
*plays “Marching To Mars” on the Muzak*
Sammy Hagar’s “Marching to Mars” ?
I’m guessing you mean this one?
http://youtu.be/GvkkENwVZe8
With these lyrics?
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sammyhagar/marchingtomars.html
On a different computer than usual, no links to HTML…
That’d be my parents music, but I still know those lyrics by heart.
At first I was worried that Dorothy was beginning to go on a downward spiral, but that last panel put my fears at ease.
Dorothy’s a cutey. Incidentally, I think this might be the final main cast member to be pantsless on panel at least once, with the exception of Danny, Ethan, or maybe Joyce, but I am pretty sure we’ve seen Joyce’s undies before. She’s shorter, so it’s not quite as obvious as Sarah, who does it easily the most. This concludes “stuff no one cares about”.
I think Willis has a knack for making his characters look cute after PMHP.
But I don’t recall seeing any Joyces sans-pants in this universe.
Joyce Sans Pants sounds like a bad 90’s ska experiment.
But with singles including:
“My Best Friend Has A Girlfriend Now”
Maybe a cover of this: http://youtu.be/YBNy3l3Me5o
Daisy: “Damnit, where is everyone finding all of these girlfriends, and can I get one?”
Becky: “I know, right”.
I’m almost positive we saw it once with her and Sarah in their room, but if so, it wasn’t super obvious. Just seeing a little bit of leg that would make shorts unlikely. I find goofy trivia like this interesting, I guess. If we count official art, then we’ve seen it for sure with her sitting on a dryer in one of the pinup pics.
Oh those pinups are wonderful, but I wasn’t including those.
Joyce has been very careful about ditching her clothes. There was this: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/02-threes-a-crowd/sample/
And this: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/rebelled/
It seems that Joyce will go as low as PJ shorts. Well, that’s what I could find quickly.
Second link, pretty sure that’s her leg showing. unless those are VERY short shorts, I think we’re seein’ undies, they just happen to be the same color as her PJ shorts sometimes are.
Ethan’s been only in a towel, if that helps.
Dorothy’s been butt-naked on panel before. Even not counting her Slipshine.
Oh yeah, you’re right, forgot all about that.
So, what’s the odds look like about someone coming in here in a snit and going on a tirade because Dots referred to Walk-Walk as “my boy” sometime in the next 50 posts?
I forgot about that, I remember an interview decades ago when Bert Newton called Muhammad Ali a boy not realising that in the US that calling a black man a boy was a racial slur at the time.
LOL I’ve seen that, Daniel the Human likes the Ali guy. They were doing a presentation bit together, I think it was a TV award show, Ali said some stuff, then Bert said “I like the boy!” as a compliment, but Ali took it as a racial insult. Bert had to backpedal out of that 1 quick…
Yaay Google & Youtube 😛 – http://youtu.be/xWKyDGGptA4
I guess Walky can get some tutoring elsewhere, like from Jason or Danny.
Looks like Walky is going to have to start working out as well as studying. His “carved out of caramel” is turning into “freshman fifteen”.
Why am I me? I was supposed to be a random Walkyverse character.
Your email address outed you! Gravatar!
You used the wrong e-mail addy, the one associated with your gravatar.
And it took so long to get to that comment that I got ninja’d by almost an hour.
The other one is worse: it has my real name in it.
Guys, guys, I think we’re all ignoring the most imortant revelation in this strip.
Dorothy apparently has adoreable butt-freckles.
*furiously scribbles in spiral notebook*
Appearances of Dorothy’s butt freckles: 1
You don’t use Excell to track such things?
Is it teal?
The real teal.
Agreed 🙂 Adorable butt freckles.
Oh and it’s Friday now? Worm-holes.
Dopey smiley face in panel 3.
Walky tell her about the grades. Walky. Walky I know you probably aren’t gonna but tell her about the grades, if ANYONE has the fear of getting bad grades it’s Dorothy, she will Understand. Like, seriously, talk to Dorothy.
Aaaaand tomorrow will continue Walky’s not-talking-to-Dorothy streak I’m just so
Also the Ides are the fifteenth what are you even doing Willis.
That’s how prophecy works Sam. Apparently, something big is going down on the fifteenth of March IRL.
Dorothy is fast becoming my favorite. Best DoA persona!
Dat Walky Eye Twitch
If they’ve gotten up and started walking around, is it still a bed of lies?
Yes. You don’t have to lay to lie.
Well, looks like the devil’s about to rug up today!
That’s quite a smile in the middle panel. “C:” It’s gonna reverse when Walky finally spits it out. The paper, that is. After he gets ill from the stress of it.
Am I the only one who thinks Dotty’s really bad about reading people?
First Joyce spells out her relationship with Ethan to her using the brilliant cover of “my friend, not me” and she still doesn’t figure out what’s going on until later from Becky’s exchange with her.
Now, Walky’s been upset about something and suddenly asks her to study, something even she acknowledges is outside the norm, and she can’t put two and two together?
She’s not exceptional at reading people but I wouldn’t call her bad. I think it’s more like she need time to connect the dots. With Joyce she was clearly upset about something gay related, and 5 seconds later Dorothy learns that Becky is out-of-the-closet and on the run. It was not hard to jump to conclusions, but a few hours later Dorothy had figured it out.
With Walky they talked about Joyce problem relationship with Ethan and Dorothy got sad about the mess Joyce has put herself in (and guilt about what she herself could have done differently). Walky told her that he had figured out Ethan being gay and then he got sad. It’s not a big stretch that Dorothy he got sad for the same reason as her (or because she talked about their relationship with hints of a coming breakup). She’ll probably figure it out their next studying session.
In fact, if I as an over-analytically inclined reader had read this comic without having been shown Walky’s bad grades at math, I would have assumed that this had to do with his and Dorothy’s relationship.
“Uh… What about we do stuff YOU like to do tonight like… study?”
“Nah, let’s to stuff you like.”
“But I’m uncomfortable with you making sacrifices on my behalf, especially when this relationship is wobbling and we don’t know if it will stay casual or be more serious and what will happen if you transfer.”
“No, no, I insist, stuff you like it is.*”
“But… I’m not sure I know where I want this relationship to go”.
That’s how I would have read it, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable if Dorothy does the same.
*) Stuff you like is the name of an awesome web review show by the way
I’m reminded of her statement that, after being missing without contact for a whole day, Billie suddenly walks back in and Dorothy deduces that she’s in love.
I mean, she was right, but she also applied her being lovesick to the actual depression Billie was experiencing that day.
That’s a good point. I suppose Dorothy’s attitude could be described as “kinda right but missing a larger piece of the puzzle, but still certain that she is right.”
OK, so that sums up basically everyone’s attitude.
Anyway, her interaction with amazie-girl follows the same pattern (she’s so in awe with amazie-girl’s amazing-ness that she misses hints of all the underlying problems).
Fundamentally, she’s an optimist. She thinks the best of everybody. Getting into politics is going to break the poor girl…
We need to see more of Robin at some point, just for the express purpose of busting that optimism.
More optimists in politics would be awesome. You go, Dorothy (and Robin).
Walky basically told her to butt out of his personal stuff, so she’s respecting that.
In both of those cases, there’s more than one thing going on (Joyce’s best friend is a lesbian on the run from her asshole father and Joyce’s mom is calling probably looking for her, Joyce is dating a gay guy; Walky is having issues with their relationship direction, Walky is failing math), and having uncovered part of it, she didn’t realize that there was a need to keep digging for more. And in both cases, the second part is something that the subject is being extra-cagy about revealing to her anyway, so because they’re her friends and she cares about their feelings and boundaries, she’s not going to push any more than she has to.
Walky’s whole face is saying he wants a piece of that freckled ass… Or maybe that’s my face
We are to assume that he just got finished getting a piece of that freckled ass.
Who says he’s not interested in another go?
But can Walky have a piece of that freckled ass and have sex with it too
I am distracted from the brewing drama by Dorothy’s lil freckled butt. Stop DOING this to me, Willis.
I know this is a big deal for Walky, but I can’t see anyone actually thinking less of him for having to study. Sal, Billie and (maybe) Joyce will laugh and say good riddance that wonder boy is brought down to the level of the rest of us.
Dorothy will be sympathetic and (gently) teasing, and then she will be delighted to have a new project. I just hope you are read for some heavy duty study regim, Walky
It will be interesting to see if he starts studying, yet can’t bring his grades back up. (As other posters have said in other comics… studying is a skill, and Walky has not developed it.) Will Dorothy want to keep dating him if he risks failing?
That would be a neat mirror of Sal who started with hard work but didn’t develop a good technique until Danny helped her. Walky has neither work ethics or study technique so he has twice the way to go.
On the other hand I can’t think of a better teacher in technique than Dorothy, and he already admitted to himself and (kinda) her that he needs to study harder so I’m sure he’s getting there.
I really can’t see Dorothy dump him because of study results. He has already impressed her with his smarts and his heart and his monkey-toy. MAYBE he wouldn’t have caught her attention without his good grades, but they are way past that point now.
What I think we will get are a few montages of Walky fighting the hard fight against BORING and Dorothy finding ways to… motivate him. Maybe even help him develop some kind of career plans which will lead neatly into a confrontation with his mother about med school.
Hey, even people who jump out of airplanes for fun bring along a parachute. Because, um… yeah, safety is good. Very, VERY good.
Just like, people who are good at math? Should still study. If only to help others.
I just love Dorothy’s backtracking in the last panel. “Lalala, I got laid, I love Walky, let’s do something wild and crazy and NOT STUDY…. well, MAYBE not study. Let’s not be crazy crazy here.”
Adorable Dorothy is adorable.
“Tell you what, let’s split the difference. We’ll go to Galasso’s and discuss the strange and terrible gender dynamics of the restaurant industry, and then you can figure out how to calculate the average amount of pepperoni that can fit on a large pizza—calculating by both weight and surface area, of course… What? What’s wrong?”
This is major, major progress for Walky, even being willing to bring up studying. He honestly doesn’t specifically need to talk to Dorothy about the test right now. That would be nice, but it wouldn’t really be Walky. He needs time to process things. (I’m not gonna stop making that terrible joke until enough time passes that he must have evacuated the paper.) Poor guy, Dorothy is being so sweet and it’ll be a while before she finds out how sad it was that she brought up his perfect grades just then.
Also, freckles. Wow.
So much freckles. So much wow.
Yup, Walky is doing just the right thing – he admits to himself that he has to study (and given his tendency for being over dramatic that is kinda a big step rather than just emigrating or dropping out of school or something), and he doesn’t try to hide it from the one person who is his best chance for actually learning to study in an efficient way.
Becky doesn’t know what she’s talking about: Dorothy clearly is BEST poindexter <3
You poor people. Just wait until you find out those aren’t freckles, but pimples.
Nope, they’re tiny teeth marks. Walky’s a nibbler.
Nomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnomnom…
Eh, still adorable in a “warts and all” kinda way. Then it is adorable that allowing Walky to see her pimpled butt is not an issue for her.
All of a sudden I don’t know whether it’s the plot or some drama tumor at the back of my mind that’s thickened.
The timing is ironic as I just finished a calculus take-home exam and am now studying for our final (VOSOR and I are unlikely to be buddies any time soon). (First time around in college many moons ago, I was a lit major – nothing higher than college algebra required. Many life changes later, I’m now a farmer doing formal study of agricultural science – while some of this math is required, a lot of it is just the ‘easiest’ way to get the remaining credits needed for my degree. Weird lib arts colleges and their hardcore hidden sciences departments!)
That face on Dorothy in panel 3, that’s like the perfect smiley.
Wait wait wait, is this ‘missed class’ she mentions the one from that strip forever ago? Because if it is that is a lot of drama crammed into a single week.
Yeah, that was Monday. Today’s Friday.
Man… some college couples will meet to study and bring along condoms just in case something develops.
This is the first I’ve heard of the reverse. :S
Frecklebutt
Frecklebutt…
I finally saw that movie on the poster in the background
it was real good