New Orleans teens make mathematical discovery unproven for 2,000 years

It takes a special kind of student to outsmart 2,000 years of mathematicians -- at St. Mary's Academy, they have two.

Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson just gave a presentation to the American Mathematical Society's Annual Southeastern Conference. They say they've proved Pythagoras' Theorem can be proven with trigonometry -- something that many thought was impossible.

It might not surprise you to hear they were the only high school students in the room.

"It's really an unparalleled feeling, honestly, because there's just nothing like being able to do something that people don't think young people can do," Calcea said. "A lot of times you see this stuff, you don't see kids like us doing it.

If you need a refresher on Pythagorean Theory, you're not alone.

Calcea and Ne'Kiya explained it to me like this: Basically, trigonometry is based on Pythagoras' Theorem (A^2 + B^2 = C^2, sound familiar?), so using trigonometry to prove Pythagoras's Theorem is what's known as circular logic.

An idea can't prove itself.

[aimehogue]

I would have loved to hear the girls, instead of the news anchor, explain their story and the theorem. They deserve the screen time for their hard work! Stay focused on your pursuit of knowledge and goals girlies!

[MindYourDecisions]

Incredible story. Not everything your math textbook tells you is correct, particularly about the history of mathematics. I'd love to see this proof in detail.

[cynthiahawkins]

I hope college recruiters are watching these two prizewinner teens. Go, kids!!

[Eric-peki]

My favorite part was when they described how they found it

[Korvilon]

As someone currently in College Calculus 2 and might be minoring in math for engineering, I really want to see more of how they proved it.

[haystacksniperr]

So why did you guys keep their discovery a secret? I wanted to know HOW they did it what’s the math behind it let’s see

[oscarespinosa]

Congratulations to Calcea, Ne'Kiya, and their parents and teachers!

[she_sings_delightful_things]

Super disappointed this story isn't being covered by any other new sources. Thank you guys so much for shedding light on it!

[MathTutor]

This is wonderful. Mathematics is a door for infinite opportunity. Good job girls.

[tedstyle]

I like how the news guy had to explain it vs the genius students explaining their own "discovery"

[whilomforge]

Wait… they made a groundbreaking discovery, but didn’t even begin to explain how they did it? This sounds like a load of bullshit to me.

[bsylve]

Not saying they did or did not discover anything but their "findings" are not anywhere to be found outside of this 1 news broadcast and article attached. Like I want to see the math but it exists no where

[oscarcastaneda]

Wow, A genuinely new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem! These young ladies have the gift of being able to see further and deeper than most while analyzing problems. Y'all are just the type of heroes that today's education needs. Congrats :)

[StaticSift]

Why haven't they explained their methods? Why is no one asking them how or what they even came up with? Why is the reporter answering all the questions and explaining? Something doesn't seem right here.

[thefamilyguy]

Reminds me of that time a teenager invented his own computer.

[ThePowerfulOne]

I see a lot of haters in the comment sections. Let the experts assess the legitimacy of it when they decide to submit it to a journal.

[sendawulakajubi]

Pythagorean theorem has been proven many times before. Just to let everyone know. Including using trigonometry

[losthorzon]

Ok... but... You left out the most interesting part, and provided no link to it either. (Neither does the news article in the link.)
WHERE CAN WE SEE THEIR PROOF?

[fredfeinberg]

Terrific story, horrible journalism. It's a *theorem*, meaning it has been proved rigorously, and has actually been so literally hundreds of different ways. These two girls seem earnest and very talented, but have not -- as the story suggests -- outpaced 2 millennia of mathematicians.

There are whole books devoted to proofs of the Pythagorean theorem that these news teams could have googled, and it's one line to show that sin^2(x) + cos^2(x) = 1 actually IS the theorem; you'd never use one to "prove" the other.

I'd love to see what the girls actually did. I'm assuming it's a fundamentally new proof, which would be awesome. But ALL mathematical proofs build on axioms (assumptions that tell us the nature of the elements we are working with, like "point" and "line") and prior proofs. This one would also need to do that to be called a "proof".

[badonpurpose]

i'm as impatient as everyone to see the full thing but this is academia gang. many of those present were impressed and taking notes. the girls' work is likely being studied in more detail and run through a bunch of computations to confirm that it works. it's like saying "i'm doing a study on x and y and z" and then being expected to hand out the data before it's been peer reviewed. (that has happened before and it's never ended well). the girls' work has made it this far and has been shown to be worth the time of experts in the subject which should be enough for now. i'm excited for the results!