Have Two Black Teens Solved A 2,000-Year-Old Math Mystery?

Two Black high school students are claiming to have solved a mathematical mystery that has eluded mathematicians for over 2,000 years.

Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson, both students at St. Mary’s Academy, presented their new proof for the Pythagorean theorem at the American Mathematical Society’s Annual Southeastern Conference in Georgia on March 18.

The Pythagorean theorem is a fundamental theorem in trigonometry that describes the relationship between the three sides of a right-angled triangle. It is expressed with the formula a² + b² = c².

While the theorem holds true in every plausible example, no mathematician has been able to establish its truth from first principles, even though it has been around since the days of the Ancient Greeks.

The two students presented their new proof of the theorem using the Law of Sines, which did not rely on circular trigonometry. They claimed that their proof was not based on circular trigonometry, which was a necessary condition for any alleged proof of Pythagoras’s theorem based on trigonometry.

Calcea and Ne’Kiya were the only high school students at the conference, and their achievement was celebrated by the American Mathematical Society executive director Catherine Roberts.

Putting the proof to the test

She encouraged the teenagers to submit their findings to a journal to go through the rigorous academic peer-review process and be confirmed by other experts in the field, as per the Guardian.

Johnson and Jackson’s achievement is significant, not just for their school but also for young Black girls worldwide.

In an interview with New Orleans television news station WWL, Johnson expressed how it felt to present her and Jackson’s work alongside university researchers: “There’s nothing like it – being able to do something that people don’t think that young people can do. You don’t see kids like us doing this – it’s usually, like, you have to be an adult to do this.”

The girls credited their success to the hard work and dedication of their teachers at St. Mary’s Academy. Ne’Kiya said, “We have really great teachers.”