Why does printer ink use magenta and cyan instead of red and blue?
In: Other
[Here’s some older threads.](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/search/?q=magenta%20%20cyan%20red%20blue&restrict_sr=1&sort=new)
Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are the negative colour bases. When you mix ink, you will get the negative sum of both colours (mixing all colours perfectly will result in black) because more light colours are absorbed.
Red, Green and Blue are the positive colour bases and need to be used when the positive sum is needed, like when mixing light (mixing all will result in white)
These are anticolour pairs. When you invert colours Red will turn Cyan, Green will turn Magenta (you have propably seen an inverted colour picture)
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