(Photo: screenshot viaWWLTV)
In school, all students are taught the Pythagorean Theorem at some point.
Solve for c and you might find the length of the remaining side (the hypotenuse).
The Pythagorean Theorem has applications in countless regions of math and engineering.
Calcea Johnson and Ne’kiya Jackson, teen students at St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans, announce their remarkable discovery. (Photo: screenshot viaWWLTV)
Early proofs for the theorem were geometric, combining the areas of squares to show how the math works.
More recent proofs have gotten creative, for example, by using differentials or area-preserving shearing.
Reportedly, the watching mathematicians (college and professional level) started to get excited.
A simple and long-known Pythagorean Theorem proof. (Photo: edited from Wapcaplet’s version,Wikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0)
I saw a bunch of people writing down stuff and pulling up things on their computers.
And they really connected with this, Johnsonsaid.
We got a lot of congratulations…Some people apparently started recording.
Another simple, well-known proof. (Photo: William B. Faulk viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 4.0)
STEM needs more young women, especiallyyoung women of color.
For these two teens, youth is not a barrier to innovation.
A lot of times you see this stuff, you don’t see kids like us doing it.
The teens presented their proof at an American Mathematical Society conference.
A simple and long-known Pythagorean Theorem proof.
Another simple, well-known proof.
