Is RED actually over fifty percent of the USA flag surface area ( as white = .333 red area ) ?

[trader]

Please tell me what are the exact percentage numbers of the colors on the USA flag.

I am curious to find out in particular if the primary color of RED is actually just over fifty percent of the total surface area of the USA flag, as the color white is not a color but a composition of primary colors where one third of white is the primary color red. One third of white is also the primary color of blue.

I believe that if one considers the small area of the white stars area as white and not blue, then the USA flag is actually just over fifty percent RED, and maybe even about 51 percent. Many times people simply ignor the area of the white stars since it is difficult to calculate the surface area of the stars.

[Peter Ansoff]

Please tell me what are the exact percentage numbers of the colors on the USA flag.

This should not be all that hard to calculate. The exact proportions of the flag are defined by Executive Order 10834, which is available in at several places on the web, including here:

Executive Order 10834

Of course, those definitions apply only to flags procured by the executive branch of the government. Other flags vary considerably as to the length of the union, the size of the stars, and the overall proportions.

the color white is not a color but a composition of primary colors where one third of white is the primary color red. One third of white is also the primary color of blue.

This is not correct, at least when you are talking about dyes (which is assume you are, since we're dealing with a flag!). In dye or pigment, white is the *absence* of color, not a combination of colors.

it is difficult to calculate the surface area of the stars.

Why would it be difficult? The Executive Order defines the diameter of the stars, and all it should take is a little geometry.

Peter Ansoff

[NAVA1974]

The red comprises 41.5 percent of the area of a 1 x 1.9 flag, while the white, including stars (but not the heading) is approximately 40.9 percent of the area, so the red and white take up about the same, though the red is slightly ahead.
Nick

[Robin Hickman]

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QUOTE : "The red comprises 41.5 percent of the area of a 1 x 1.9 flag, while the white, including stars (but not the heading) is approximately 40.9 percent of the area, so the red and white take up about the same, though the red is slightly ahead. Nick"

Which leaves my favorite color, BLUE, with a mere 17.6% of the entire surface area of a G-Spec, 1:1.9 ratio American Flag !!!


I know that SOMEBODY (probably more than just one "somebody" over the next few years) is going to be thinking about asking the following question. Maybe they'll decide to NOT ask it for fear of looking a little silly...

BUT... THAT has NEVER stopped me from asking a question !

AHEM.....


Do those color percentages (Red = 41.5%, White = 40.9%, and Blue = 17.6%) hold "true" for BOTH sides of the Flag ???


Robin Hickman
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[NAVA1974]

My percentages were based on the flag specifications. A printed flag could be made fairly close to those specs, but sewn flags, of course, would have seams wherever fabric of one color was sewn to fabric of another color. The visible fabric on the front of the seam may be different from the color of fabric on the back of the seam, thus leading to slight differences in the % of one color seen on the front vs the % of color seen on the back. This discrepancy would decrease as the flag got larger. However, the flag would not have to be very large at all before someone would say "who cares?"
Nick

[Robin Hickman]

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Well..... you know how it is. I just HAD to ask !!!

As for the seams, I hadn't really given it much thought. I can see how there might be a "slight" difference between the "front" and the "back" of the Flag. I would assume that it would all sort of "average" out though. Another "variable" might be the width of the top (short) and bottom (long) red stripes and how they are "hemmed".

Peter is "right" as far as the "color" of white being the absence of "color". The original poster, "Trader", might have been thinking in terms of "LIGHT", where white light is the combination of the three primary colors of "light", Red, Green, and Blue.

Sometimes it's the "subject" of the question that is fascinating, and sometimes it's "how" the question is asked. With "Traders" question, it's definitely the "subject". That, and wondering what kind of "conversation" prompted that kind of question.

Which brings me to asking a coup[le of questions of my own.

#1. Trader, "why" do you need to know the percentages of the Flag's colors?

#2. Nick, did you "do the math" to figure out the percentages of the Flag's colors, or did somebody else go through the whole process years ago ???


Just Wondering.....


Robin Hickman
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[NAVA1974]

I did the math myself, but I cheated a little regarding the area of the stars. I assumed that the area of the star itself is half of the area of the circle that defines the "diameter" of the star. But since the exact area of the stars is only between 3.5 to 4 percent of the area of the entire flag, the inaccuracy does not affect the calculation too much.

Nick

[trader]

Thank you for all the feedback, and significant information.

I don't understand why the "primary colors of light" do not apply to the flag, for example from an observer who would be observing the flag from the distance.

It seems that the argument given above that the "primary colors of light" do not apply to the flag, is based on the molecular compostion of the color building blocks of the flag.

But it seems to me that the "primary colors of light" do apply to the distant observer, and that the total actual percentage of the color RED on the executive flag is over 54 percent. In general the distant observer can not tell exactly what the source of the flag is, such as cloth, LCD, CRT, or people holding up color cards.

[NAVA1974]

The primary colors of light refer to a situation when you are focusing colored beams of light on a surface. When you combine three beams of light using the colors red, green, and blue: COLOR MIXING - ADDITIVE
you get white light, as their intensity is addative. This is just the opposite of the way pigments work.

The primary colors of pigment are subtractive. When you combine cyan (blue) magenta (red) and yellow (yellow!) you get black.

In terms of colors of the flag I belive the "colors" of red, white, and blue each stand alone. If you tried to define the white as "all colors" then the wavelengths that represent "old glory red" and "old glory blue" consist of such narrow bands of the spectrum of visible light that they are insignficant when talking about what % of the flag is red or blue.
Nick

[Peter Ansoff]

I don't understand why the "primary colors of light" do not apply to the flag, for example from an observer who would be observing the flag from the distance.

To paraphrase Nick's explanation in a slightly different way: The observer sees the flag because light from the sun (or a floodlight, or whatever) is reflected off the flag into his/her eyes. The light source is white, and contains all wavelengths in the visible spectrum. The red parts look red because they absorb all wavelengths except those that the eye interprets as red. The "redness" is caused by the composition of the fabric, not the light.

The white areas of the flag look that way because they reflect *all* wavelengths, including, among many others, the particular shades of red and blue that are also reflected by the other parts of the flag. However, the red and blue are not "in" the white areas of the flag -- they're part of the overall visible spectrum coming from the source. As Nick pointed out, they are rather small parts of the overall spectrum.

An image of a flag displayed on a computer screen is a slightly different story. In that case, the screen itself is the light source, and the wavelengths corresponding to the red and blue parts of the flag image are, in a sense, "in" the flag. However, I'm not sure I see why it matters. The eye still interprets the white areas as white, regardless of the underlying physics.

Peter Ansoff