A convicted murderer who taught himself how to understand advanced mathematics solved an ancient problem from his prison cell.
Christopher Havens dropped out of high school, went off the rails and became a drug addict. He was sentenced in 2011 to 25 years in prison for murder which is where he found his passion for maths and now hopes to inspire others, while also dedicating his work to his victim.
The Monroe Correctional Complex inmate was only allowed to get maths text books sent to him if he agreed to teach other prisoners. Now he's started the Prison Mathematics Project to help others find their passion in life.
When Havens, now 41, was trying to get some more text books, he decided to write a letter to a mathematics publisher.
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This was passed on to a maths professor at Umberto Cerruti from Turin, northern Italy, who sent the prisoner a problem to solve in a bid to test his abilities.
Not long after, the professor received an answer by post from the prisoner in the form of a 47-inch-long piece of paper with a formula written on it. The expert then has to put the formula into his computer to check what had been sent.
Incredibly, Havens has solved the task.
According to CBC's The Current about his love of maths, Havens said: "We need to be able to have that opportunity to make these personal changes inside of us, and sometimes those personal changes, after all the scabs that are being peeled off, you eventually experience a couple breaks in the clouds here and there. Mathematics has been that break in the clouds for me."
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Havens, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison following a drug-related shooting where he killed Randen Robinson, went on to explain how he first got into maths.
It started not long after he was sent to prison when he was placed in solitary confinement - otherwise known as 'the hole' - and noticed someone passing out envelopes that had maths problems inside.
He added: "I stayed up doing this math. It was better than the puzzles. And I just kind of kept going and never stopped.
"There's so much to mathematics. Every time you learn a little bit more, you're just in awe of how much you don't know. And the things that come about are always so beautiful - even your failures.
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"When I do work, I dedicate it to my victim [Randen Robinson] because he is a constant reminder in my life of exactly where I should be pointing."
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