YouTube via WWL-TV
In a remarkable achievement for young mathematicians, New Orleans high school students Ne’Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson have successfully passed peer review on a trigonometric proof of the Pythagorean theorem.
The Pythagorean theorem is a mathematical solution once thought impossible without using circular reasoning.
After rigorous scrutiny by experts, their proof has been published in The American Mathematical Monthly, a prominent journal in the field, confirming the validity of their groundbreaking work.
Not only did their initial proof withstand peer review, but Jackson and Johnson took their findings even further.
Building on their method, the duo developed nine additional solutions to the theorem, demonstrating a deep level of understanding and ingenuity that continues to captivate the mathematics community.
The Pythagorean theorem, a fundamental principle in geometry, has traditionally eluded proof through trigonometry without reusing its own properties, but Jackson and Johnson’s novel approach circumvents this longstanding barrier.