‘Proof’ of greatness: Two Catholic school students crack 2,000-year-old trigonometry problem

If there was ever a real-life Good Will Hunting, most people wouldn’t expect to find them at an all-girls Catholic high school in New Orleans.

But Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson prove them wrong. Graduates of St. Mary’s Academy, Johnson and Jackson solved a previously unsolvable math problem during their senior year.

“I wasn’t necessarily looking for a solve,” teacher Michelle Blouin Williams recalled. “I was just looking for some ingenuity.”

The school-wide math contest required students to re-prove the Pythagorean Theorem – a² + b² = c² – using only concepts from trigonometry. The equation has been proven hundreds of times using algebra and geometry, but only once by trigonometry.  

That is, until Johnson and Jackson tackled it.  

“It was pages and pages and pages of, like, over 20 or 30 pages for this one problem,” recalled CeCe Johnson, Calcea’s mother.  

“The garbage can was full of papers,” added her father, Cal. “She would, you know, work out the problems and if that didn’t work, she would ball it up, throw it in the trash.”  

St. Mary’s teachers submitted the girls’ proofs to the American Mathematical Society in 2023, and the math world exploded. One interviewer asked them why their accomplishment was so impressive.  

“Probably because we’re African American,” said Jackson. “And we’re also women. And our age. Of course, our ages probably played a big part. I’d like to be actually celebrated for what it is. It’s a great mathematical achievement.”  

Since the gauntlet was thrown, Jackson and Johnson have found five new proofs for the Pythagorean Theorem. “And then we found a general format that could potentially produce at least five additional proofs,” Johnson added.  

The two aren’t the only high achievers at St. Mary’s. The school, which was founded in 1867 and remains steeped in Christian values, boasts stellar academic outcomes for its students, including a 100% graduation and college-enrollment rate. 

Pamela Rogers, St. Mary’s president and principal, credited the school for holding students to a high bar. 

“We believe all students can succeed, all students can learn,” Rogers told CBS. “It does not matter the environment that you live in.” 

Gloria Ladson-Billings, a prominent education theorist known for her work on racism and economic inequality, couldn’t agree more. 

“When teachers lay out some expectations that say, ‘You can do this,’ kids will work as hard as they can to do it,” she explained.  

“Many of our young people have their ceilings lowered, that somewhere around fourth or fifth grade their thoughts are, ‘I’m not going to be anything special.’ What I think is probably happening at St. Mary’s is, young women come in as perhaps 9th graders and are told, ‘Here’s what we expect to happen. And here’s how we’re going to help you get there.’”  

Ne’Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson certainly got there – and beyond.  

Jackson received a full ride to study pharmacy at Xavier University while Calcea, who was also class valedictorian, enrolled in environmental engineering at Louisiana State University.