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High Schoolers Outsmart Mathematicians

Two high school seniors at St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans spoke at the American Mathematical Society’s Annual Conference about their discovery regarding the Pythagorean theorem. Mathematicians previously thought it was impossible to solve the infamous 2,000-year-old theorem using trigonometry, but Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson proved them wrong. Johnson and Jackson presented their trigonometry solution to a room full of the country’s top mathematicians, who were stunned by their findings. The teens, who are both headed to Yale University this fall, have been working on this mathematical research throughout their time at St. Mary’s Academy and attribute their success to their dedicated teachers.

Image via WWLTV


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