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101-101

101-101

(OP)
I sometimes (especially on this site) see a basic explanation described in terms like "Geopolitical Macroeconomics 101"

Does anyone know the origin of this "101" usage?

If "101 101" is the easy explanation, what comes after?

A.

RE: 101-101

It's as obvious as self-descriptive to me as 401K.

- Steve

RE: 101-101

I've always assumed the first digit signified the subject or course year level, and the second and third digits were the actual lecture/class in that subject.

cheers

RE: 101-101

(OP)
OK - we're looking at college courses are we?  So who codes their courses like that?

At least it eliminates ideas like chapter numbers in some standardised series of publications.

A.

RE: 101-101

It's pretty common for colleges and universities to code their courses such that 100 series courses are freshman, 200 are sophomore, 300 junior, 400 senior, etc.

The "101" implication implies "the simplest possible explanation" for something.

RE: 101-101

Perhaps common, but certainly not universal. the university I went to used (I think) 00-99 for lower division undergrad, 100-199 for upper division undergrad, and 200+ for graduate work...  So "psych 1" at my school would have been similar to "psych 101" at yours.  

A fun-sounding math class, for example:
MAT 133. Mathematical Finance
Lecture—3 hours; extensive problem solving. Prerequisite: courses 67; 135A. Analysis and evaluation of deterministic and random cash flow streams, yield and pricing of basic financial instruments, interest rate theory, mean-variance portfolio theory, capital asset pricing models, utility functions and general principles. MATLAB programming required. Offered in alternate years.

 

RE: 101-101

It may not be universal, but it certainly is (or was) a widespread practice. When I went to uni in Queensland (Australia) in the 1970s, most of my engineering subjects were coded such that the first two alphabetical characters indicated the subject, the first digit signified the year (100 series for first year, 200 series for second year, and so on), and the last two digits indicated the actual unit number.

ME101 was introductory first year mathematics for engineers, PH101 was introductory first year physics, while ME404 was an advanced fourth year engineering mathematics subject.

RE: 101-101

Yes, I agree with Julian.  May not be universal, but my courses in a university 10000 miles from his were numbered using the same system.

RE: 101-101

I agree with the 1st yr, 2nd yr explanation.  

Although, I once also heard Eng Maths 101 described as your greatest individual nightmare, hence the reference to Room 101 from the novel Nineteen Eighty Four.

That said, I am sure the 1st years then discovered worse maths nightmares in subsequent years. winky smile

ASM

RE: 101-101

To me, that would be a designation for a Grade 10 high school course.

All of our University courses were 4 digit numbers, 1XXX for first year, etc etc.

But I was able to grasp the intent of the terminology.

RE: 101-101

Common modern usage is to refer to the most basic information about a topic as being _____ (name of topic) 101. So if you didn't know anything about brewing coffee and you wanted to learn, then you needed Coffee Brewing 101.

RE: 101-101

Correction.  Common American usage.

- Steve

RE: 101-101


101?

Elementary, my dear Watson...

RE: 101-101

My whole course was numbered: H301.  Individual subjects had names.

- Steve

RE: 101-101

Our school was in Ireland and was based on an American model.  We had courses such as EE113 (which would have been the 13th course in the Electrical Engineering First Year syllabus.  As Industrial Engineering students we would also have some classes from Materials Technology (MT1--) and Mechanical Engineering (ME---).
Made a load of sense to us at the time.

RE: 101-101

At Fresno State (home of the 2008 Division 1 national baseball champs and not much else LOL), courses were numbered as follows:  1-99 for undergrad lower division, 100-199 for undergrad upper division, and 200-299 for graduate level. Now that Fresno State has added a few doctoral programs they may have started using 300-399, but don't quote me on that. In some departments (like Civil Engineering) the numbering scheme grouped courses into like topics in a way that made sense, but I swear other departments used a random number generator.

Since individual courses were not limited to a particular year in school, it didn't make sense to prefix the course numbers with 1 for freshman, 2 for sophomore, etc. Courses were prefixed by department:  "CE" for Civil Engineering, "PS" for Political "Science", "Math" for Mathematics, and so on.

RE: 101-101

A friend of mine recently described hyperinflation as economics 1.01, so maybe 101 is really 1.01 shortened??  1.01 makes more sense to me as a course title.

- Steve

RE: 101-101

1.01 or 101, it's derived from college/uni courses, - usage now transposed to everyday life as djack77494 succinctly described (commonly even for non-Americans like me), and no, I don't think it was based on a very long North-South freeway in the US..... blllttt

RE: 101-101

Wkipedia lists a lot of uses and references for "101":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_(number)

About half way down, it lists:

"A beginning-level or basic course number taught at colleges and universities in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United States. An example would be English 101, which may be a remedial English."

And near the bottom:

"According to the New Oxford American Dictionary "101" is an adjective, describing a course of education, either imagined or real, in basic knowledge."

A few of the other uses listed make for interesting speculation on this topic; e.g.:

101 Dalmatians = Introductory Pet Care?

Room 101 (from George Orwell's "1984") = the lecture hall where "Engineering Maths 101" is taught?

R101 Airship = "Zeppelins for Dummies"?

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