Calcea Johnson and Ne\u2019Kiya Jackson, two high school students from St. Mary\u2019s Academy in New Orleans solved an \u201cimpossible\u201d maths problem that had stumped countless mathematicians and scholars for over 2,000 years. Using trigonometry without circular logic, the two students have found a new way to prove Pythagoras\u2019s theorem, which states that the sum of the squares of a right triangle\u2019s two shorter sides equals the square of the hypotenuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their presentation titled \u201cAn Impossible Proof of Pythagoras\u201d was delivered at the American Mathematical Society\u2019s Southeastern Section\u2019s semi-annual meeting at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where they were the only high schoolers present. Attendees of the event included math researchers from various institutions and universities across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The achievement of these two high school seniors is remarkable, especially considering the skepticism surrounding any alleged proof of the theorem based in trigonometry due to the logical fallacy of circular reasoning. Johnson and Jackson, however, found a way to use the trigonometry law of sines to prove Pythagoras\u2019s theory in a way \u201cindependent of the Pythagorean trig identity sin2x+cos2x=1\u201d \u2013 without resorting to circular reasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked about their feelings towards their remarkable achievement by television station WWLTV, Johnson expressed awe, stating that \u201cthere\u2019s just nothing like being able to do something that people don\u2019t think young people can do,\u201d while Jackson credits their success to the guidance of their teachers who instilled in them their school\u2019s slogan \u201cNo Excellence Without Hard Labor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their findings have been reviewed by \u00c1lvaro Lozano-Robledo, a mathematics professor at the University of Connecticut, who noted that while it is not the first time trigonometry has been used to prove Pythagoras\u2019s theorem, Johnson and Jackson\u2019s findings are \u201creally important and fantastic\u201d. Lozano-Robledo reviewed the reconstruction of their proof in a video and concluded that the students had done what they claimed with \u201ca fractal of similar triangles\u201d and \u201cinfinite series\u201d to compute the shapes\u2019 sides, stating that the proof is \u201cso ingenious\u2026 and\u2026 beautiful\u201d in its elegance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson and Jackson are planning to go to college and receive their STEM degrees, with Johnson focusing on environmental engineering and Jackson on biochemistry. Their peers are already inspired by their achievement, with St. Mary\u2019s Academy\u2019s principal, Dr. Monique G. Cola, stating that the students\u2019 achievement is \u201ca testament to the hard work of our dedicated faculty and the focus and commitment of our talented students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Africa Giant is showcasing the achievement of Calcea Johnson and Ne\u2019Kiya Jackson for solving an impossible maths problem. \u201cA tree that bears fruit does not stay hidden.\u201d This Tanzanian saying emphasises that great accomplishments cannot be hidden for long. While they may have been unknown before their mathematical breakthrough, their achievement has now continued to gain global recognition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Calcea Johnson and Ne\u2019Kiya Jackson, two high school students from St. Mary\u2019s Academy in New Orleans solved an \u201cimpossible\u201d maths […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulyne.wp-warriors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}