Black Teens From New Orleans Solve Math Problem Believed to Be Impossible For 2,000 Years

Nationwide — Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson, two high school students from New Orleans, Louisiana have reportedly solved an “impossible” math problem and presented it at a recent conference where they were the only high schoolers.

The duo, who are students of St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans, said they had proven Pythagoras’s theorem by using trigonometry without circular logic. It was a discovery that countless mathematicians around the world believed to be impossible for over 2,000 years.

Most recently, they presented their work called “An Impossible Proof of Pythagoras” at the American Mathematical Society’s Southeastern Section’s semi-annual meeting at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. They were reportedly the only high schoolers at the event which was attended by math researchers from several institutions and universities across the country.

“It’s really an unparalleled feeling, honestly, because there’s just nothing like being able to do something that people don’t think young people can do,” Johnson told WWLTV. “A lot of times you see this stuff, you don’t see kids like us doing it.”

The 2 high school seniors said it wouldn’t have been possible without the encouragement of their teachers, who instilled in them their school’s slogan ‘No Excellence Without Hard Labor.’

“We have really great teachers,” Jackson added.

Moreover, Johnson and Jackson are planning to go to college and get their STEM degrees, which are environmental engineering and biochemistry.