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Colour mathematics: with graphs and numbers

Michael C LoPresto
Henry Ford Community College, USA E-mail: lopresto@hfcc.edu

Abstract The different combinations involved in additive and subtractive colour mixing can often be difcult for students to remember. Using transmission graphs for lters of the primary colours and a numerical scheme to write out the relationships are good exercises in analytical thinking that can help students recall the combinations rather than just attempting to memorize them. M This article features online multimedia enhancements

Introduction
The following study was undertaken with students in a descriptive level physics course, mostly for general education students or those majoring in various allied health curricula, such as those training to become physiotherapy assistants or xray technicians.

Projections
Prior to any discussion of or assigned reading on light and colour, students were shown combinations of the additive and subtractive primary colours similar to the diagrams in gure 1 [1] in actual projections at the front of the classroom. The additive primaries were projected by spotlights covered with blue, green and red lters. The subtractive primaries were projected with yellow, cyan and magenta lters on the lighttable of an overhead projector.

still in front of them. The quiz was graded liberally since colour had not yet been covered: answers such as pink or purple were accepted for magenta, orange was accepted for red, blue was accepted for cyan and so on. The results are shown in tables 1 and 2. The average score for the 37 students who took the quiz was 4.2/11 = 38% with three students scoring a high of 7/11 and two a low of 0/11. Note in table 2 that although 50% or more of responses for questions on combinations of both additive and subtractive primary colours were correct, there were no correct responses for questions on complementary colours or the three additive primaries combining to make white. There were however 30% correct responses that the three subtractive primaries combine into black. Next came a lecture highlighting two different methods other than memorization by rote for remembering the equations for colour mixing.

Using graphs Pre-test

The students were then asked to complete an eleven-question colour quiz (available in the online version of the journal at stacks.iop.org/physed/44/363) with the projections First, each student was given a copy of the transmission graphs shown in gure 2 [2] and offered the following explanation. Examination of the transmission graphs (gure 2, left) for red, green and blue, immediately
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yellow

red

green

red

yellow

magenta

cyan blue

magenta

green cyan

blue

additive (light)

subtractive (paint)

Figure 1. Additive and subtractive colour combinations.

Table 1. Student scores in the colour quiz. Pre-test (projections) Score/11 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Average Post-test (graphs) Post-test (numbers) Post-test (nal)

N = 37
2 1 5 6 6 3 11 3 0 0 0 0 4.2/11 = 38%

N = 17
0 1 1 1 3 3 2 2 2 0 1 1 5.6/11 = 51%

N = 20
0 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 9 1 3 1 8.0/11 = 73%

N = 36
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 12 1 7 8 8.7/11 = 79%

Table 2. Percentage of correct responses to each question in the colour quiz. Pre-test (projections) Question # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Post-test (graphs) Post-test (numbers) Post-test (nal)

N = 37
51 86 81 0 0 0 0 54 65 51 30

N = 17
76 76 94 76 24 47 41 35 29 24 35

N = 20
100 95 90 90 100 100 90 35 25 20 45

N = 36
97 97 97 100 97 97 97 42 39 44 64

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Colour mathematics: with graphs and numbers

% 80 % 80

40

40

0 400 500 600 blue 700 % 80 400 500 600 yellow 700

% 80

40

40

Students were then post-tested with the same colour quiz at the beginning of the next laboratory period and were allowed to use a copy of gure 2 as a reference. As shown in table 1, the average score of the 17 students in the section increased to 5.6/11 = 51% with one student scoring 10 and one scoring 11, but also one student scoring 1, one scoring 2 and one scoring 3. The percentage of correct responses, in table 2, increased for combinations of additive primaries, but actually went down for the subtractive primaries. Large gains did occur for complementary colour combinations.

0 400 500 600 green 700 % 80 400 500 600 magenta 700

Using numbers
During the initial lecture students were also offered the following numerical scheme:

% 80

40

40

0 400 500 600 red 700 400 500 600 cyan 700

Figure 2. Graphs for filters of the additive and subtractive primary colours. Examination of the transmission graphs (left) for red, green and blue immediately shows that all wavelengths (labelled in nm) of visible light will be transmitted by their combination, thus adding up to white. The graphs for yellow, magenta and cyan (right) show that all the visible wavelengths will be blocked out by their combination, leaving black.

shows that all wavelengths of visible light will be transmitted by their combination, thus adding up to white. The graphs for yellow, magenta and cyan (gure 2, right) show that all the visible wavelengths will be blocked out by their combination, leaving black. The additive and complementary colours are evident on the graphs as well. Yellow is missing blue and therefore a combination of red and green. Magenta can easily be seen to be missing green and a combination of red and blue, and cyan, missing red, is a combination of green and blue. The subtractive combinations can be seen too. Yellow and magenta together will allow nothing through but red. Magenta and cyan together will leave only blue and cyan and yellow will transmit only green.
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Using this scheme1 it can be seen for the additive primaries that (1) and also (2) For the complementary colours, (3)
1 The idea of using a numerical scheme to study colour mixing came from [3]. A source of possible confusion in the proposed scheme was the use of the same number for the colours yellow and blue.

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14 12 number of students 10 8 6 4 2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 score on quiz/11 9 10 11 series 1 series 2 series 3 series 4

percentage of correct responses

100 80 60 40 20 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 question number

series 1 series 2 series 3 series 4

9 10 11

Figure 3. Number of students scoring 1 to 11 on the colour quiz when used as the pre-test with projections (blue), the post-test with graphs (red), the post-test with numbers (yellow) and the final post-test (green). Two students scoring 0/11 in the pre-test are not shown.

Figure 4. Percentage of correct responses for each question on the colour quiz when used as the pre-test with projections (blue), the post-test with graphs (red), the post-test with numbers (yellow) and the final post-test (green).

Since the subtractive primaries were introduced with the graphs as combinations of two additive primaries missing the third, their combinations could be represented2 as (4) Also,

subtractive primaries. Even larger gains occurred with the numerical scheme than with the graphs for complementary colour combinations, going as high as 90100% correct responses.

A tutorial
During both laboratory periods after the colour quiz had been given as a lecture post-test at the beginning, the students were given a worksheet (see appendix 2) that featured doing colour mathematics using both the graphs and the numerical scheme. Finally, the colour quiz was given one last time to all the students at the beginning of the rst lecture period after all students had done the worksheet. This time, copies of both the graphs (gure 2) and the colour scheme were provided as references.

Students in the other laboratory section were posttested with the colour quiz at the beginning of their laboratory period and were allowed to use a copy of the numerical scheme as a reference. From table 1, the average score of these 20 students was 8.0/11 = 73% with eight students scoring a perfect 11, and only one student scoring below 7. The percentage of correct responses, table 2, was very high for additive primaries but again went down from the pre-test for the
Strictly speaking the subtractive primary combinations could be done using the numerical scheme in the following fashion: Y+M= WB+WG= W+WBG =W+R so Y + M W = 6 + 5 7 = 11 7 = 4 = RED, with the other two combinations working in a similar fashion. However, it was decided this may be too complex for students of a lower mathematical level, descriptive physics course and, as expected, this was not brought up by any of the students.
2

Results
The nal average score for 36 students, table 1, was 8.7/11 = 79%a little higher than the 20student number scheme post-test, 73%, but much higher than the 51% on the 17-student graphs posttest. Nearly every student taking the nal posttest (table 2) responded correctly to the additive primary and complementary combinations. The subtractive combinations showed small gains from the earlier post-lecture tests, but were still
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Colour mathematics: with graphs and numbers below scores on the initial pre-test when the students could look at actual projections of the combinations. Histograms comparing data for all four administrations of the colour quiz are shown in gures 3 and 4. In a poll taken with the nal post-test, students were asked whether the graphs, numbers, both or neither were of the most help to them in trying to recall the colour mixing equations. 18/36 = 50% responded that they were equally helpful, 13/36 = 33% thought the numbers were more useful and only one student, 3%, favoured the graphs. Four students, 11%, did not respond. colour addition and subtraction were similar for actual inspection of the projections, the subtractive combinations must be more difcult to understand than the additive ones. This could be because determination of the subtractive equations from the graphs requires more abstract thinking, having to mentally put two graphs on top of each other and see what is not blocked out rather than just adding two graphs together. This is also true with the numerical method; the additive primary equations come from a straightforward addition of the numbers, but again, the subtractive primary equations require a conversion to the additive primaries being subtracted from white.

Conclusions
The average score on the nal post-test being slightly more than double that of the rst pretest (table 1) clearly shows that gains took place. Inspection of table 2 shows that the nal gain was impressive for combinations of the additive primaries, dramatic for complementary colours, but non-existent for combinations of the subtractive primaries. Both tables show that the tutorial produced gains beyond that of the lecture for use of the graphs (gure 2) but not in use of the numerical scheme. This could suggest that the more visual nature of the graphs requires that students actually work with them on their own in a tutorial. This does not seem as necessary with the numbers which, as mentioned above, were also preferred by about a third of the students, although fully half the students found the two methods equally useful. Not surprisingly, on the basis of the nal results, we can say that the tutorials showed no appreciable gain beyond the lecture for either method for combinations of the subtractive primaries. It seems clear that, although results for

Acknowledgment
I thank the students of Physics 133 at HFCC for participating in this study.
Received 9 December 2008, in nal form 23 January 2009 doi:10.1088/0031-9120/44/4/003

References
[1] Obtained at http://www.diycalculator.com/imgs/ console-09.gif, permission for use by educators granted at http://www.diycalculator.com/ educators.shtml [2] Used with permission from Arbor Scientic and www.leefilters.com [3] Parsons L 1998 As easy as R, G, B Phys. Teach. 36

In nearly 20 years at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, MI, USA, Michael C LoPresto has taught the full range of introductory physics courses including, most recently, the descriptive Physics 133 in which this study was done.

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