For many high school students, math class can be one of the most painful parts of their school day, full of complex equations with no real world applications. That’s why they make calculators, right?
But Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson, students at St.Mary’s Academy in New Orleans, took on one of those complex equations and did something even some of the most renowned mathematicians thought was impossible - proved the Pythagorean Theorem using only trigonometry.
If you’re getting awful flashbacks of your high school math classes, we don’t blame you. But in case you need a refresher, the theorem, named after the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras, is the equation used to calculate the longer side of a right triangle by adding the squares of the two shorter sides, or a2 + b2 = c2. And while there are over 300 proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem using algebra and geometry, scholars believed a proof using trigonometry was impossible.
The challenge was presented to the students by their math teacher, Michelle Blouin Williams, who said she was less interested in a solution and more interested in seeing the student’s ingenuity.
Jackson and Johnson admitted that it was the $500 cash prize that initially motivated them to enter the school-wide challenge. But once they started trying, they didn’t give up until they found a solution after months of work. Their success caught the attention of “60 Minutes,” and their feature story caught the attention of former NBA star Charles Barkley, who promised to make a 1 million dollar donation to the all-girls Catholic elementary and high school.
“[Barkley] has a love and passion for what the academy stands for and how it is shaping the lives and futures of young girls in New Orleans,” a representative from his foundation said in a statement.
Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson have since graduated from St. Mary’s but the pride in their achievement will last forever.
“It’s an unparalleled feeling, honestly, because there’s just nothing like it, being able to do something that people don’t think that young people can do,” Johnson told New Orleans CBS affiliate WWL-TV.