Students discover and publish unexpected proof for 2,000 year-old mathematical theory | CNN
Louisiana students Ne’Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson wowed their teachers in 2022 when they discovered a new way to prove the 2000-year-old Pythagorean theorem in response to a bonus question in a high school math contest. But that was only the beginning.
A volunteer at their former school, New Orleans’ St. Mary’s Academy, encouraged them to submit their work on the famous mathematical theory to a professional conference, and in March 2023 they became the youngest people to present at the American Mathematical Society’s Southeastern Sectional conference in Atlanta. Their appearance elicited a wave of media coverage, including a spot on “60 Minutes.” The pair also received symbolic keys to the city of New Orleans and a shout-out from Michelle Obama.
Now Jackson and Johnson, who started college last year, have notched another achievement: authoring an academic paper detailing their original proof — plus nine more. Their work published Monday in the scientific journal American Mathematical Monthly.
Bonus:
Teens who discovered new way to prove Pythagoras’s theorem uncover even more proofs
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