My bad; I was just so into reading &#x27;jolly cross&#x27; in his letter, I forgot just who was cross.<p>I have a mathematics degree, and I can say that most mathematicians I have known consider the math needed for most physics and engineering undergraduate degrees to be deadly boring. It&#x27;s a rare math professor who enjoys teaching calculus year after year.<p>My university did not have this budget-grabbing approach from the theoretical math department; I think I can understand both the appeal of it, and the perils from the perspective of the department. 20 years after the choice is made to grab budget with large freshman calculus seminars, it makes sense to me you&#x27;d have a bunch of bad behavior and culture embedded.