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High-schoolers come up with 'impossible' proofs for Pythagorean Theorem

2 pointsby conductor7 months ago

1 comment

zahlman7 months ago
&gt;Their journey began with a math contest at St. Mary&#x27;s Academy in New Orleans in December 2022. The teacher added a bonus question<p>&gt;Their work has been recognized as a rare achievement for young mathematicians, as they are only the third and fourth people known to have proven the Pythagorean theorem using trigonometry without resorting to circular reasoning (claim 5).<p>&gt;Their accomplishment adds to the rich history of proofs of the Pythagorean theorem, which states that in a right-angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse (c²) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides (a² + b²) (claim 6). Mathematical truth is timeless; once a mathematical theorem is proven, its correctness can be assumed for all eternity. People continue to find and publish new proofs of the Pythagorean theorem, including famous mathematicians like Euclid, Leonardo da Vinci, James A. Garfield, and Albert Einstein.<p>This has <i>got</i> to be AI-generated.<p>(But the paper does exist: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tandfonline.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;full&#x2F;10.1080&#x2F;00029890.2024.2370240" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tandfonline.com&#x2F;doi&#x2F;full&#x2F;10.1080&#x2F;00029890.2024.2...</a> )