Are you smarter than a high schooler? You may think you are, but after hearing how two high school students solved an impossible math equation unsolved for 2,000 years, you may not think so.
Two students, Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson of St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans, an all-girls Catholic School, have proven the Pythagoras theorem using trigonometry.
In 2022, high school math teacher Michelle Blouin Williams created a school-wide math contest with a challenging bonus question. The question asked students to create a new proof for the Pythagorean Theorem using trigonometry.
Teachers didn’t expect anyone to solve it, as the theory had been unsolved for 2,000 years. The contest prize was $500.
The girls presented their work to their teachers, who told them to take it to the mathematics conference. Also a prominent US math organization encouraged the girls to submit their work to a peer-reviewed journal.
Johnson and Jackson revealed their findings at the American Mathematical Society’s south-eastern chapter’s semi-annual meeting in Georgia.
This meeting was attended by math researchers from many universities such as Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana State, Ohio State and Oklahoma. The girls were the only high school students in attendance.
The girls gave a speech about how they discovered their findings for the Pythagorean theorem.
The equation has stumped academics for thousands of years.
You may be wondering what this theory is. Well, let’s break it down.
The 2,000-year-old theory establishes that the sum of the squares of a right triangle’s two shorter sides is the exact same as the square of the hypotenuse.
It has been argued that any proof based on trigonometry would have to be circular, but the girls proved that wrong.
The girls explained the theory a little in the video down below.
Johnson and Jackson are very proud of their accomplishment, which they should be as they have achieved something so hard at a young age.
The girls have spoken to local media one of the TV stations being WWL where Johnson said it was an ”unparalleled feeling to present her work with Jackson in front of people more experienced than them.
The girls also talked about how it felt to have accomplished something like this that people wouldn’t think people their age can do.
Jackson gave a shout-out to her school teachers for challenging them to complete such a task deemed impossible.
The girls have graduated and been accepted to college. Ne’Kiya got a full-ride scholarship in the pharmacy department at Xavier University in New Orleans.
Calcea graduated class valedictorian and is studying environmental engineering with a minor in math at Louisiana State University.
Now in college, the girls have been working further on proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem and believe they have found five more. Despite their successes, they don’t claim to be math geniuses.
