Two New Orleans-based teenagers have cracked the code of an impossible math problem that hasn’t been discovered for nearly 2,000 years, according to a presentation they gave at a recent mathematics conference.
On March 18, high school students Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson presented a session called “An Impossible Proof Of Pythagoras” at the American Mathematics Society’s Spring Southeastern Section Meeting at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
The St. Mary’s Academy seniors presented a discovery that the pythagorean theorem (remember that from high school trig?) could be proved with trigonometry without circular logic, despite mathematicians believing it was impossible, local CBS affiliate 4WWL reports.
The girls are on their way to STEM degrees (of course), with plans to study environmental engineering and biochemistry.
The teens join a line of notable St. Mary’s graduates, including Judge Dana Douglas, who became the first Black woman to serve on the New Orleans-based federal appeals court, and Leah Lange Chase, the former co-owner and executive chef of the renowned Dooky Chase’s Restaurant.