Random HP thought

[sandydelaware]

Ok, so I don't post that much, but I was re-reading some previous Harry Potter books in preparation for Book 7 and I had a sort of random thought.  I wanted to share it with a HP fan and Max hasn't read any of the books.

Does anyone else find it odd that they don't teach math at Hogwarts?  Yeah, I know they have arithmancy, but it's just an elective

Comments

[darklordmoeser]

The wizards have always been described as being sort savant like in some respects... they spend a lot of time working on their magic, but they have no idea what any sort of muggle technology is like, and prefer it that way. One would assume this would apply to muggle culture as well, but perhaps the History of Magic teaches them some sort of muggle epics and such too.
Its a funny sort of world they must live in, so much of the teaching is dedicated to ones personal magical power, like what spells you can cast and how you can zap certain things, never really about *why* or *how* magic works, which is why you get the really skilled wizards making all the cash and getting all the girls, and supporting a whole host of stupider wizards they like, like Dumbledore, or those guys that run shops, or the Ministry.

[alpine_tunnel]

Dangit, I had a post and lost it.

Anyhow, I had a really good argument about how I think that accounting is done by the Gringotts goblins, who I think must be modelled after the Gnomes of Zurich.

[kendellsquare]

I never thought about this! The only way it makes sense is if they are going to live lives so isolated from the muggle world that they can use magic to solve any math problem. (Imagine - you need to calculate a probability of an event, you just wave your wand and go "statisticus" or something, and it fills in. Why bother *learning* the hard way to do it?)

But it does seem a shame that they don't learn any Shakespeare. And how are they supposed to understand the themes and meanings of those moving paintings all around Hogwarts if they don't learn any literature or art? I understand that in Europe, you choose your eventual 'major' very early, and focus entirely on that for most of high school, but even there they don't start as early as 11, I think. Maybe she needed time for character devel- oh wait, no, this is Harry Potter... :)