The Missing Students

Everyone knows the primary Illustrative Mathematics characters: Andre, Noah, Diego, Tyler, Han, Kiran, Clare, Lin, Mai, Jada, Priya, and Elena. Those are the only ones, right? Surely, if there were more, we would have more information about them, right?

## Brett

A quick google search and I accidentally came upon this mysterious problem on the OFFICIAL ILLUSTRATIVE MATHEMATICS WEBSITE.

They could've used any character in place of Brett. Han? Diego? Noah? Has Illustrative Mathematics forgot about all of them? No. This was deliberate. They placed this crucial clue here to taunt us. They thought we couldn't figure out the truth. And they were right.

## Amelia, Lucia, Naya, Tori, and Sonya

If the appearance of Brett wasn't unsettling enough, this is sure to shock you. There, placed next to the characters we know so well, are FIVE new names: Amelia, Lucia, Naya, Tori, and Sonya.

Unfortunately, these names appeared in a cool-down that I don't have access to anymore, so I cannot link to it. However, this picture alone is enough to raise immediate speculation. Who are these five individuals that play basketball or volleyball? Why didn't Illustrative Mathematics just use more existing characters?

Like Brett, we certainly don't have enough information to form a conclusion. I do, however, have some theories.

## Theories

### **The Upperclassmen Theory**

If we are to assume that the regular Illustrative Mathematics characters were only freshmen or sophomores when these appearances took place, the missing characters (Brett, Amelia, Lucia, Naya, Tori, and Sonya) may have been seniors, and have since graduated, explaining why they never appear again. If this theory is to be believed, we must assume that both occurrences occur early on in the Illustrative Mathematics time line.

**The Tragedy Theory**

What if tragedy struck? What if the missing characters didn't graduate, but died? There is no evidence to support this, but there isn't exactly evidence to support the graduation theory either. If something terrible happened, whether it was a tragic accident or something grimmer, and several students in the school died, that would certainly explain why these characters never show up again.

Perhaps this theory would explain the truth behind why all of the characters are so eager to do math in the first place. The average high school student hates math. Why are Andre, Clare, Noah, Jada, Tyler, Lin, Han, Priya, Diego, Mai, Kiran, and Elena any different? Because the friends that they lost, the ones who were tragically killed at such a young age, died in math class with them. Maybe whatever horrible accident that happened took place during math, and now, the only way these poor kids can bring back the memories of their departed friends is by doing math. Maybe, when they're doing math, they feel like their friends are still alive, like nothing ever happened.

**The Falling Out Theory**

Alternatively, perhaps the reason these students don't appear ever again is because, for some reason or another, there was a fight between the current characters and them, and they stopped associating with any of them. If this is true, it is certainly less somber than the previous theory, and I have a few ideas for why such an argument could have taken place.

Andre. Of course it was Andre, with his unfaithful and scandalous behavior. Perhaps Brett was dating Mai or Clare, and when they cheated on him with Andre, it caused a divide in the friend group that resulted in a complete split.

The only problem with this theory is that it implies that all of the current Illustrative Mathematics characters are friends, which may not even be true. Every single character has at least one other character that they never interact with. Then again, perhaps the divide in the friends goes deeper than we think. Perhaps when the scandal divided them, characters like Kiran did stop associating with some of the others, but were at least around enough of them that his appearances in the Illustrative Mathematics lore remained frequent.