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lolcats2323

Guest

how many different colors are there ?

How Many different colors are there?

misheeru

Member

Registered: 2010-02-18

Posts: 4,594

Re: how many different colors are there ?

I am not sure but i believe there are seven ( Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) they are supposed to be like the base colors
all other are supposedly colors  created by different shades, tints and mixes of those seven so the number is really infinite

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Of Moons, Birds and Monsters

Devantè

Real Member

Registered: 2006-07-14

Posts: 6,400

Re: how many different colors are there ?

Well, there are a number of different answers to this question. A 24-bit RGB computer monitor can simulate 16,777,216 colours. It works like this;

We have three 'columns' -- 0 0 0. We can add any number to these columns, i.e. if we add 127 to the first column, 61 to the second, and 39 to the third, we get 127 61 39. This represents the amount of red, green, and blue respectively. The maximum is actually 255 per column, leaving us with 256 possible combinations per column. To calculate the number of combinations, that is 256³, or, 2[sup]24[/sup], which is 16,777,216.

However, in reality, we know that, of course, 16,777,216 is not the actual number of possible colours. The visible spectrum of light means that we can see wavelengths between 380 and 740 nm (nanometres), hence why there are infinite possibilities; you can have fractional wavelengths. For example, 491.66206782365 nm could be a visible wavelength.

In terms of how many colours a human can perceive? That depends. The perception of colour varies from person to person... the number of different colors that you, as an individual, can distinguish also varies dramatically according to the conditions; it drops to zero in low light conditions, in which only the rod cells of the retina can function, as the cone cells of the retina are required for color vision. So there is no single number that applies to everyone. I believe the estimate is between 1 and 10 million.

[ Also, 0 0 0 isn't always used -- sometimes 00 00 00 - FF FF FF is used (hexadecimal). The number of combinations is still the same, because 00 in hexadecimal is 0, and FF is 255. So there are still 256³ = 16,777,216 combinations. ]

(EDIT: Sentence didn't even make sense. )

Last edited by Devantè (2010-02-23 08:33:49)