People on the internet are freaking out about the cover of this algebra textbook. Please take a look. Can you see why?
Look closer 👀
The people on the cover of the textbook ARE HOLDING COPIES OF THE TEXTBOOK WITH A PHOTO OF THEM ON THE COVER.
The image first gained attention a year ago on Reddit (and has appeared in at least one post on BuzzFeed, too). This week a tweet with the textbook cover went viral:
how the fuck are they already on the textbook if theyre posing for it
"When I sent it I honestly expected a couple likes, maybe a retweet or two AT MOST,” said Isabelle, the Twitter user, who declined to give her last name to BuzzFeed News.
Isabelle put out a call for people to explain the image. Her personal theory involved a green screen.
Or maybe it was...
This woman had a theory that they took the photo and then printed it on a few textbooks for the students to hold — and then took another photo.
But people were very skeptical.
Some had dark theories about what was going on.
A guy said his entire class got into a debate about the book last year. Conclusion: Photoshop!
Right. In fact, a Reddit user found it a while back:
And if you look at the textbook version, the students' arms cover up where the textbook would have to be.
After being contacted by BuzzFeed News, the publisher of the textbook looked at Isabelle's tweet and said they are "absolutely overwhelmed" by the response on Twitter. The company also tweeted a reply:
@riarklerise Our goal is to keep students front and center in all we do. Sometimes we take it a bit too far #studentfocus
"If nothing else, perhaps we’ve helped to raise interest around the subject of algebra," said spokesperson Lindsay Stanley.