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American Morning
Sidewalk Professor Takes Math to New York Streets
Aired February 11, 2002 - 08:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Walk the streets of New York, and you'll meet all kinds of interesting characters, from the famous to the unsavory. Call it Darwin's waiting room.
CNN's Jeanne Moos, who is not from these parts, has a new understanding now, of what it means to be "street wise."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Put on your thinking cap --
GEORGE NOBL, MATH PROFESSOR: Come on up. You think better up front.
MOOS: Solve the problem and win a "Snickers."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You got it! Yay!
MOOS: If you think the only math on 42nd Street involves sales signs, think again. "Mary can paint a room in three hours. Fred can paint the same room in six hours. How long will it take them to paint the room together?"
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think three, because Mary can still do it at three.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She can do it by herself at three, so she's got this other guy to help her.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, Fred is going to hold her up...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10 hours.
NOBL: 10 hours?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
NOBL: It takes longer than it would take her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, less.
MOOS: Folks resort to using fingers, pads, even calculators.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two hours! Two hours!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two hours.
NOBL: All right!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two hours.
MOOS (on camera): That is good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two hours. I used to teach math.
MOOS: That's almost unfair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's fair to me. Hey, I got a "Snickers," and I know it's two hours.
MOOS (voice-over): Once a week, George Nobl lugs his easel to 42nd Street.
NOBL: To add two fractions, you have to get common denominator, right? Am I speaking your language?
MOOS: He presents problems that some passers-by can't just pass by. The population of Smithville increased by three percent since 1992. The population is 422,300. What was the population in 1992?
NOBL: That's an easy one.
MOOS: Easy for George.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 432,969.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 409,701?
NOBL: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 409,671
MOOS: The correct answer is 410,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh well.
MOOS: George is a math professor, upset over the way math is taught in American schools.
NOBL: And if this keeps going, we're going to fall behind very badly.
MOOS (on camera): But what do you think you're going to accomplish like on 42nd Street with your little easel and all that?
NOBL: We'll see. I don't know. MOOS (voice-over): So far, George has yet to discover anyone like the character in "Good Will Hunting" the young janitor who astounded professors by figuring out math problems.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who did this?
MOOS: Most of the folks on 42th Street get the answers wrong.
NOBL: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that right?
NOBL: No.
MOOS: George even uses diagrams of aliens with tentacles to teach math.
(on camera): It's such an odd thing, though, for you to be out here doing. You know, because you're not like a whacko. You know, I mean, it's a lot...
(LAUGHTER)
MOOS: No, really, there's a lot of whackos in New York.
NOBL: Can I have that in writing, please? I'm not -- I'm not dangerous, no.
MOOS (voice-over): What's dangerous is how easy the problems seem. "Pete sells a six inch pizza for $6. How much should he charge for a 12 inch pizza? The answer is $24, not $12. But trying to figure that out...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: R squared is going to be three, square that, it's going to be nine -- nine times the diameter is...
MOOS: Is enough to make your lose your appetite.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAFFERTY: You can bank on this. If he stays out there long enough, they'll steal his easel.
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