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New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

keith-mcnulty.medium.com

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Re: New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

#241

Post by samgtx »

yafbum wrote: post #236

I am puzzled by the article's spin on this, which really centers on the fact that this original proof was authored by two teenage African-American girls from the South , as if the interesting thing here was not so much the proof itself than the idea that there are gifted mathematicians from underrepresented backgrounds and skin colors. In my experience, pretty much in any place and social stratus you might visit, the…

It's telling that your comment is currently 2nd ranked. It comes across generous "there are bright math kids everywhere" but really boils down to "don't talk about how they're black" and "don't talk about how they're women." And finished with "my male friend was disadvantaged, the conversation should be about that."

Obviously a large number of the HN crowd agrees with you because these types of comments always land at the top of any article praising a woman or underrepresented minority for their accomplishments. "Why does it matter? We are all people." That's very easy to say when you are in the position of not having your accomplishments and intelligence questioned based on your race or gender. And it shows how homogeneous the HN community is that these types of comments continue to be upvoted to the top.

Representation matters. When you have no concept of what it is like to be black in the deep south. Or to be a woman in the deep south, much less both, you have no appreciation for why stories like this are so interesting and inspiring to the people who relate to them.

Re: New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

#242

Post by kmeisthax »

yafbum wrote: post #236

I am puzzled by the article's spin on this, which really centers on the fact that this original proof was authored by two teenage African-American girls from the South , as if the interesting thing here was not so much the proof itself than the idea that there are gifted mathematicians from underrepresented backgrounds and skin colors. In my experience, pretty much in any place and social stratus you might visit, the…

Skewed representation is the end product of multiple filters working in tandem. You're correct that there are still further filters and that college is one of them. But the filters don't start in college, it just continues. The girls in question have already passed through several.

Re: New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

#243

Post by teo_zero »

marcusphi wrote: post #140

I like the infinite triangles construct. Once A and C can be constructed from a,b,c, the theorem can be proven by proving A^2 +c^2 = C^2 with expanding/reducing the equation to 4a^2b^2c^2 - 2a^2b^2c^2 = 2a^2b^2c^2, which is true. No sin rule required.

That would only prove that, given a triangle abc, you can construct another, different triangle for which the PT holds, not that the PT is valid for the given triangle.

Re: New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

#245

Post by foldr »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #240
foldr wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their point is that Ada Lovelace is still a salient example of a woman who made significant discoveries in computer science, even though she was also privileged in other ways. Indeed, in general, it's often otherwise-privileged members of disadvantaged groups who are the first to make advances.

The equivalent in Lovelace's case would be saying she's a woman from an area where most women are illiterate and work sixteen hour days in death trap factories. It's true, but ignoring that she was part of the nobility adds a disingenuous element to the statement. And saying that privilege doesn't matter is nonsense, without it she's unlikely to have had the opportunity to do what she did.

I don’t think OP was suggesting that Ada Lovelace wasn’t aided by her privileged position. Rather, they were saying that even though she was privileged, that doesn’t take away from her significance as a woman who was a pioneer in computer science.

I doubt that is a controversial point. I think all three of us probably agree, and you may just have misinterpreted the original post.

Re: New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

#246

Post by gabereiser »

I'm with the circular loop crowd. Pythagorean Theorem proofs must exist in geometry terms and not trigonometric terms. To use the dependent math to prove the math will always be true. This is like me saying "I made beer out of old yeast". Yeast being PT in this case. Beer being trig. The proof is using proof to provide proof. sin a. Invalid to me.

Re: New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

#247

Post by kzz102 »

It's a really nice idea. I wouldn't call it a proof in the rigorous sense, because you need to define trigonometric functions first and be careful you don't use Pythagorean theorem to avoid circular logic. It's however perfectly fine to call it a proof for students, which is about deducing logical relation between statements.

I am however, against media hype of this type of student achievements. This is very nice for high school students, and they should be showered with praise and get some notoriety in their school. For societal validation, I think it's better to have objective standards. I am not talking about this particular proof, but all the news about various "inventions" and "discoveries" made by high school students that come up every year.

Re: New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

#248

Post by gabereiser »

eneim wrote: post #220

I think this approach briliant. However, I believe it can be simplified to avoid depending to trigonometry and geometry series, while keeping the original idea. I have no idea if it is similar to any existing proof of the theorom, but I put my thought into a post [1]. [1] https://eneim.notion.site/On-a-new-proof-of-the-Pythagorean-... .

I like this as a proof better than the OP. Not only does it avoid the sin2(a)/cos2(a)=1 pitfall but shows clearly the math without use of trig. This part is the yummy bit: >Since a

Re: New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

#249

Post by harvey9 »

samgtx wrote: post #241
yafbum wrote: post #236

I am puzzled by the article's spin on this, which really centers on the fact that this original proof was authored by two teenage African-American girls from the South , as if the interesting thing here was not so much the proof itself than the idea that there are gifted mathematicians from underrepresented backgrounds and skin colors. In my experience, pretty much in any place and social stratus you might visit, the…

It's telling that your comment is currently 2nd ranked. It comes across generous "there are bright math kids everywhere" but really boils down to "don't talk about how they're black" and "don't talk about how they're women." And finished with "my male friend was disadvantaged, the conversation should be about that." Obviously a large number of the HN crowd agrees with you because these types of comments always land a…

[flagged]

Re: New Orleans teenagers found a new proof of the Pythagorean Theorem

#250

Post by yafbum »

samgtx wrote: post #241
yafbum wrote: post #236

I am puzzled by the article's spin on this, which really centers on the fact that this original proof was authored by two teenage African-American girls from the South , as if the interesting thing here was not so much the proof itself than the idea that there are gifted mathematicians from underrepresented backgrounds and skin colors. In my experience, pretty much in any place and social stratus you might visit, the…

It's telling that your comment is currently 2nd ranked. It comes across generous "there are bright math kids everywhere" but really boils down to "don't talk about how they're black" and "don't talk about how they're women." And finished with "my male friend was disadvantaged, the conversation should be about that." Obviously a large number of the HN crowd agrees with you because these types of comments always land a…

> It's telling that your comment is currently 2nd ranked.

Fwiw i think only because it's relatively recent. Not a lot of upvotes currently.

> It comes across generous "there are bright math kids everywhere" but really boils down to "don't talk about how they're black" and "don't talk about how they're women." And finished with "my male friend was disadvantaged, the conversation should be about that."

Wow now I think you're reading a lot more into it than what I wrote.

> Obviously a large number of the HN crowd agrees with you because these types of comments always land at the top of any article praising a woman or underrepresented minority for their accomplishments. "Why does it matter? We are all people."

That's not actually my claim. I do agree that representation matters. But I find it condescending when someone's accomplishments are only ever mentioned in the same sentence as some statistically surprising fact about their identity, as if what we were saying here is "not bad for a X". (And fwiw I do find it condescending when I'm a recipient of such praise in settings where I'm in the minority.)

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