[rdouble]

One can get through the required classes without being any good at them. Wannabe doctors take 2 years of chemistry as premeds and promptly forget it all when finals are over.

That said, I've never seen a CS degree that required any more math than a year of calc and maybe a semester of linear algebra. That doesn't seem so hard, one just has to keep up with the homework. Maybe you are thinking of computer engineering?

[serge2k]

Semester of statistics required for mine.

Of course they have since dropped the stats requirement. And the calc 2 requirement. So now it's a semester of calculus and a semester of linear algebra. I guess too many people failed calculus 2 and stats.

[tptacek]

People fail stat and pass linear algebra?!

[geebee]

There's basic "stat" for the social sciences (nothing but arithmetic for means, medians, standard deviation, and so forth). Then there's calculus-based probability, which can be very rigorous. The CS curriculum at rigorous programs tends to require the harder, calculus-based probability. I was a math major, but there were a lot of CS and engineering students in my stats class.

BTW, even with the calculus prereq, I'd agree that linear algebra would typically be a harder class, so I definitely understand why you're surprised someone would pass Linear Algebra and fail Stats.