Introduction
Vice President Harris just began a weeklong trip across Africa. We’ll tell you what she’s doing there and hoping to achieve. Plus, how these two high school seniors just made mathematics history. Those stories and more today on Notice News Daily.
Harris Visits Africa
Jonathan: Hey everyone, Jonathan here at Notice HQ in Brooklyn. Our top story today is out of Africa, where VP Kamala Harris will be spending this week trying to improve relationships across the continent. Our Washington correspondent Angie has the full story.
Harris: “When I look at what is happening on this continent, and the fact that the median age is 19 years old, and what that tells us about the growth of opportunity, of innovation, of possibilities, I see in all of that great opportunity, not only for this content, but the people of the world.”
Angie: That’s Vice President Harris in Ghana on Monday, speaking as she embarks on a weeklong trip across Africa. She’s visiting three countries, Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia, as part of a concerted effort by the Biden administration to strengthen ties with the continent.
Yesterday, Harris announced a $139 million aid package for security and development assistance.
Critics say the US has long underinvested in the continent, treating African nations more like charity cases than true partners. A lack of focus on Africa left an opening for new partnerships by US rivals like China, which has made significant investments in infrastructure and economic development, and Russia, whose private mercenary group provides security services in many African nations.
With new public commitments to aid and American business investments, the US seeks to forge deeper links to Africa instead of focusing on corruption and violence across the continent.
The Vice President herself has ties to Zambia, which she visited in the 1960s and where her grandfather worked for the government to help resettle refugees.
President Biden plans to visit Africa later this year to continue building stronger relations.
Headlines
Here’s what else is making news right now.
A school shooter left multiple people, including several children, dead yesterday after opening fire at a private Christian school in Nashville. Police say the shooter was a female teenager, who was killed in the attack. We’ll have more about this developing story on Notice News.com. Also…
Israel’s Prime Minister agreed to pause reforms to the country’s court system yesterday after massive protests swept the country. Critics said his proposed changes would have rolled back important checks on legislative and executive power in the country.
High Schoolers Make Mathematics History
Jonathan: If you’ve taken trigonometry, you definitely know the formula. A squared plus B squared equals C squared, known as the Pythagorean theorem, is a formula that’s been used for 200 years to calculate the length of a right triangle’s hypotenuse. It’s long been accepted that trigonometry can’t be used to prove the Pythagorean theorem. That’s because the Pythagorean theorem is the basis for all trigonometry – so using trigonometry to prove it is called ‘circular logic’. Circular logic is basically trying to prove an argument, using the argument itself. But, two high school seniors say they’ve figured out how to do just that.
Calcea Johnson and Ne’kiya Jackson from New Orleans say they’ve found the first proof of the theorem using trigonometry, without resorting to circular logic. Instead, they used the law of sines to prove the Pythagorean theorem. The law of sines is used to find the missing length of a triangle in a way that’s independent from the Pythagorean theorem. Their discovery was so significant, they were invited to present at the American Mathematical Society’s semi-annual conference, and they were the only high schoolers present.
Sound: “It’s an unparalleled feeling honestly because there’s just nothing like it, being able to do something that people don’t think that young people can do.”
The girls found the proof after a teacher challenged them to it.
Sound: “Our slogan is there’s no excellence without hard labor so they definitely push on that. And we have really great teachers.”
The executive director of the American Mathematical Society said she encouraged the girls to have their proof reviewed, after which, it could end up in textbooks.
Conclusion
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I’ll be back tomorrow with more from us, Notice News.