Next year's course offerings will include a slightly greater number of core classes, as well as the debut of the new Quantitative Reasoning core area, according to the preliminary course catalog posted on the registrar's office website this month.

This year's core program offers 101 courses in foreign cultures, historical studies, literature and arts, moral reasoning, science core areas and social analysis, compared to 92 courses in the areas last year.

But Director of the Core Program Susan W. Lewis said the small increase was largely coincidental.

"It isn't totally our decision. We don't say, okay, this year our magic number will be 95," Lewis said. "We're very much dependent on who goes on leave...there are some professors who teach their courses in alternate years and that affects the number of offerings."

"We always have as a mandate increasing the cores in any area up to ultimately 12," Lewis added. "That's the number we're shooting for in any area."

This year's freshman class of quantitative reason course offerings features only six courses--the fewest of any core area--but Lewis she said more will be offered in the future, when more students need to take the core.

"There's only one class under the QRR core [now] and that's the freshmen," Lewis said.

In addition to Quantitative Reasoning courses like Quantitative Reasoning 28: the Magic of Numbers, Lewis said other math-related courses will count for the requirement.

Computer Science 50, Math la, Math lb, Math 21a, Math 21b, Statistics 100, Statistics 101, Statistics 102 and Statistics 104 will also meet the quantitative reasoning course requirement.

Nicole J. Bergeron, Jonathan H. Essensten, Rachel P. Kovner and Edward W. Naim contributed to the reporting of this story.

There's a First Time for Everything

Ten new courses this year from off the beaten track.

Religion 1015--Angels: Messengers of God

Science A-43--Environmental Risks and Disasters

Science A-45--Reality Physics

Literature and Arts B-80--The Sewing Era

Afro-American Studies 136x--Fictions of Race, Facts of Racism

Anthropology 125--Primate and Human Nutrition Research Seminar

Comparative Literature 286--Terror and Materialism Seminar

Visual and Environmental Studies 167--Adventure and Fantasy Simulation, 1871-2036: Seminar

Quantitative Reasoning 28--The Magic of Numbers

History 1319--Mind and Money: Culture and the Marketplace from Renaissance to Modem