Why are RED, GREEN, and BLUE the primary colors used in Aargon?

Over the last 5 years or so since Aargon was developed I've received the same letter from different people on numerous occasions. It would seem some peksy art teachers are insuring the public that red blue and *YELLOW* are the primary colors and that we've got it all wrong with red blue and *GREEN*.

So what's going on here? There are in fact many definitions of "Primary" color, but for this explanation we can stick with the two main ones.

There's RED, GREEN, and BLUE - the Additive primary colors and then there's RED, BLUE, and YELLOW - the subtractive primary colors.

The key difference you have to understand here is that in the art or subtractive colors we're talking about a physical material hue like paint. A paint is something that reflects and absorbs light that hits it. In a way it takes light away from you. It subtracts the light out. A red apple is subtracting blue and green light from the sun and leaving you only with red to see.

In the additive or science primary colors we are talking about the actual light itself like a television screen, or the sun, or of course... a laser. Your tv screen is a good example. There are little dots on the screen (you can see them if you up close and look usually) that emit red green and blue light when the electron gun in your screen hits them. The light emmited adds together to give you the colors you see on your screen.

Lastly the reason that the primary colors are usually considered to be red green and blue is that it ties in directly to the biology of your eye. Your eye contains a number of different parts that work together to let you see. The one of interest to us is called a cone. There are 3 types of cones in your eye. One responds to red light, the other to green, and the other to blue.