The classes we take can change our perspectives and shape our lives—and we think that’s worth celebrating. Our new podcast, Today I Learned, is all about the classes at BU that have had a real effect on students in our community; we want to know all about the classroom environment, professor, subject matter, and the cool facts that make a lasting impression.

For those who think that math is a chore, we present to you David Gardner. In the fifth episode of our BU Today podcast,Today I Learned, Gardner (CDS’26) gets candid about his favorite BU class, MA 442: Honors Level Linear Algebra. If you don’t have a basic understanding of the concept, this might not be the class for you because, as the name suggests, it’s not for the uninitiated. Gardner agrees that every day is a challenge and he’ll often go to Professor David Rohrlich for assistance with difficult proofs, but that the hard work always pays off: “It’s fun,” he says, “it’s a game.” For him, solving each problem is like cracking a code, or completing a puzzle—there’s something purely enjoyable about the experience of finding a solution. What’s more, Rohrlich’s teaching style is attuned toward deductive reasoning and linear thinking, which Gardner says has allowed him to examine nonmathematical dilemmas in history and politics with a new mindset. Be it engineering, technology or, in Gardner’s case, just for fun, this episode will make you see linear algebra like you’ve never seen it before.

Want to be our next guest? Tell us about your favorite class here. Undergraduates and graduate students are welcome to submit.