Throughout its almost 100 years of service and excellence, Xavier University of Louisiana has fostered some of the brightest and most creative minds that have walked through its doors. This legacy has attracted many to the university, who have since achieved, and will go on to achieve, great things through the university’s encouragement to “press forward and fear nothing.” Now, Xavier is the collegiate destination of Ne’Kiya Jackson, one of the New Orleans high schoolers who garnered national attention for submitting proof of the Pythagorean theorem.

Jackson is a native New Orleanian who graduated from St. Mary’s Academy this past May. Jackson, along with classmate Calcea Johnson, made national headlines earlier this year for submitting proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. This mathematical theory claims that the squared length of the sides of a right triangle equals the hypotenuse, or the longest side, of that triangle. The theory has been considered impossible to prove by mathematicians because it could not be solved independently of itself through any other mathematical practices. The resulting circular logic has kept the Pythagorean theorem as a technical “theory” for centuries instead of a proven concept. Now, Jackson and Johnson have offered proof that it is not impossible after all.

“There’s many proofs of Pythagoras’ actually,” said Jackson, “It was just that ours used trigonometry. At the time, I was not even aware that what we were doing was so novel.”

Instead of using the Pythagorean theorem to prove itself, Jackson and Johnson used trigonometry and the concepts of sine and cosine to solve the theory. After showcasing their findings at their high school’s annual math contest, Jackson and Johnson presented their proof at the American Mathematical Society Annual Conference, where they were met with awe and wonder from the crowd. The news of their new proof of the Pythagorean theorem quickly spread, and these two young Black students from New Orleans were thrust into the spotlight for their work.

“I was very surprised. I didn’t think people would be that interested, especially in math,” said Jackson, “But I also think it is really nice that people are so interested.”

Jackson is attending the Xavier University of Louisiana and will become a part of the university’s legacy of excellence. She will enter the Contingent Admit Program for Xavier’s College of Pharmacy (COP), taking two years of undergraduate courses before being admitted into the 4-year Pharm.D. program. Her decision to attend Xavier came down to the reputation of the university’s pharmacy program and because it was close to home for her. Despite her success in mathematics, Jackson wants to positively impact her community through her chosen field of pharmacy. Her mathematical achievements that have garnered such attention would be just an episode for her on her path of achievement.

“This will be more of just an anecdote because while doing that was very nice, and I had a great time, I don’t think math is really my calling,” Jackson said. “I would like to impact the pharmacy industry too, but right now, I just have to see where this goes.”

Jackson hopes, though, that people will be encouraged by her story and know that anything is possible, even the things everyone said are “impossible.”

“It might inspire other people to try more STEM-related activities, even if they are young,” said Jackson, “I want people to know that being young is not a barrier to achieving great things. Nothing is impossible. You can really do anything you set your mind to.”

Image retrieved from NOLA.com