cjh@csin.UUCP (Chip Hitchcock) (12/12/83)
In response to your message of Fri Dec 9 11:53:22 1983:
I noticed variants of this phenomenon some time ago and for that reason avoid
using VDT's with other than [off]white displays---for me, "eye-ease green"
isn't.
The color seen is caused by complementarity, but not with the formula you
specify. The primary colors of \\light// (not paint) are red, blue, and green;
the secondary colors are magenta (blue/read), orange/yellow (red /green), and
blue-green ("cyan"). (Yes, I know it seems strange if you try to think about it
without seeing it, but it can be demonstrated trivially with three spotlights,
and a color television is a demonstration everyone sees (the phosphors are
reasonably pure red, blue, and green).) Complements are any primary and the
secondary made with the other two primaries. (For printing colors (which is
"subtractive" instead of "additive") you use variants of the secondary colors:
reddish magenta, bright yellow, and a slightly greenish blue (combined with
black on a white background, you can get just about any seeable color; additive
is weak in some areas, eg you can't mix a convincing brown).)
This means that the "pink" people see is likely to be magenta (which reads
as pink to most people); there could be even more blue in it, since a lot of
"green" VDT's are yellowish (ie have more red in them---see above), but blue is
perceived much less strongly than red.