Written By: Sakura Snyder, Staff Writer
CURIOSITY: The peculiar connection between subjects and colors.
Is math red or blue?
In the past, I have watched arguments unfold amongst my peers regarding this question. Since then, my interest has been piqued about why we even assign colors to subjects in the first place. For many students, it is not unusual to associate subjects with colors—but what is the reason for this? What causes people to associate a certain color with a subject? To better understand this, I have decided to interview and survey various students at Poly.
I surveyed a total of 37 students at Poly on their opinions regarding the color of math. Those results are depicted in the diagram above. As seen in the chart, the difference in people who believe math is “red” or “blue” is miniscule. Within those groups, however, students seemed absolute in their beliefs, to the point that small quarrels would break out against each other when someone shared their opposing thoughts. Each respective side justified their opinions with reasoning, the most common reason being connecting their direct feelings about math to colors. For instance, Jamie Inskeep, a sophomore, strongly feels that math is red, because “red is related to fire and violence.” Another sophomore, Angelina Rincon, on the other hand, believes that the subject is blue, because “[math] makes [her] blue.” There were other reasons for math being connected to colors, however, and they were not limited to only emotion. When asked whether math is red or blue, Kien Biggs, a freshman, said math is blue, because “red is 3 letters, and blue is 4 letters…the word red is further from math than blue.”
There seem to be various reasons for why students associate math with red or blue, all quite logical, but it is fascinating how a seemingly plain question such as “is math red or blue?” can spark such debate between people. Poly students, thank you for furthering our understanding about the connection between subjects and colors!