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Re:Impossible Colors by tgb on Thursday September 03, 2020 @09:46AM (#24363977)
I've used this as an example of (non)-vector spaces in a linear algebra class before. Light perception is based off the stimulation of three color cones, so three (positive) values. The light available to us stimulates those cones in certain ways and three light colors are enough to form a "basis" of the space of perceived colors. But the fact that the values are always non-negative means that there are possible cone-stimulation values that are never achievable by our light.

However, super-saturating your eyes with a color and then removing the stimulus effectively allows you to also "subtract" out some light and therefore reach parts of the perceivable-color-spectrum otherwise unobtainable.

I thought it was a clever application but my students didn't seem too impressed!

Re:Impossible Colors by andrewmcwatters on Thursday September 03, 2020 @11:27AM (#24364952)
It's interesting to think you've almost certainly then impressed more people with this knowledge just posting it online here.

Thanks for sharing, what a neat thing!

Re:Impossible Colors by nefitty on Thursday September 03, 2020 @12:28PM (#24365700)
That is pretty dope. In my experience, in all the time I’ve been in school, most people seem unimpressed with most of what is presented. I personally try to be effusive and give the teacher or presenter feedback so they have some inkling that they’re lighting up at least a couple of neurons in my brain.
Re:Impossible Colors by hatsunearu on Thursday September 03, 2020 @01:05PM (#24366132)
I feel like my appreciation for linear algebra really came after a year or two after I finished lin alg in college :P