Yesterday, for one-sixtieth of an hour, a popular math professor spoke on the problems of fractions.
At exactly noon on Locust Walk, a sizable crowd gathered to listen.
Called "Down With Fractions," the short talk was part of a weekly series of 60-second outdoor speeches run by the School of Arts and Sciences each semester.
"I have a simple suggestion when it comes to teaching students in elementary school fractions -- don't," said Dennis DeTurck, a Mathematics professor at Penn and Evan C. Thompson Endowed Term Professor for Excellence in Teaching.
"Fractions have had their day ... but in this digital age, they are as obsolete as Roman numerals."
DeTurck added that learning fractions in elementary school is unnecessarily confusing and frustrating to young children.
"Fractions are harder to add than they are to multiply -- what's with that?" he joked.
The idea of hosting weekly minute-long speeches by various professors seemed exciting to SAS administrators.
"These go back to something the College of General Studies used to do during the summertime," said Vice Dean of External Affairs Jean-Marie Kneeley, who introduced DeTurck.
"We decided it would be a good thing to do with the students here on campus."
DeTurck's speech was the second of four for the fall term. When the weather is fair, the speeches tend to draw large crowds.
"When we do it inside, we don't get as good a turnout," Kneeley said.
But the mini lectures, which are videotaped each week, appear on SAS's Web site and are quite popular.
"We got 5,000 hits on lectures we put up last year," said Loraine Boehmcke, director of public relations for SAS.
"We know that a lot came from alumni and a lot from campus."
For DeTurck, the challenge of speaking for one minute forced him to cut his material down significantly.
"The first take of it was about seven minutes," he said.
Students who stopped by said they enjoyed DeTurck's message.
"I agree with him because I remember that so many people had trouble with fractions when I was younger," Wharton senior Courtney Schilling said.
After the speech, Jess Shellaway, a representative for Energy Zone -- housed in Pottruck Health and Fitness Center -- handed out free smoothies.
"It's a good way for people who don't know Pottruck well to be able to taste our smoothies for free," Shellaway said.
Also present afterwards was the Penn band Nooney Tunes, which provided live music.
"We're like old-time country," said Larry Toto, the group's banjo player. "We're an informal gathering that meets at noon to play music."
Next week's 60-second lecture will feature Renata Holod, an Art History professor at Penn.
