What colors of ink do color inkjet printers use to produce a full range of colors?

And do the colors form by color addition or by color subtraction?What colors of ink do color inkjet printers use to produce a full range of colors?
Typical consumer inkjet printers use either a 3-color (CMY) or a 4-color (CMYK) set of colorants. Cyan (C), Magenta (M) and Yellow (Y) correspond loosely to the traditional blue, red and yellow ';primary colors';. Black (K) is sometimes added to improve quality and cost effectiveness. The colors form primarily by color subtraction.





High-end inkjet printers may use additional colorants.What colors of ink do color inkjet printers use to produce a full range of colors?
The basic (';prime';) colors -- Red, Yellow, Blue. These three can be combined to make all colors (white and black, btw, are not considered colors).





**EDIT** or_try_'s answer is better than mine, I have to admit. Go with that one :)
Los colores primarios son amarillo, azul, y rojo..


(The primary colors are yellow, blue, and red)
The colors used for ink jet printing are typically cyan, yellow and magenta. These are subtractive colors. Red, green, and blue are the primary additive colors. The red, green, and blue primaries are used for emissive displays (LCDs, plasma, CRT) which are the colors that closely correspond to the different color receptors (cones) in the retina of the eye.





Inks and paints are typically all subtractive. They absorb light in specific bands, reflecting other colors, which we see. That is, a bright red paint strongly absorbs green and blue so we see red in reflection.





A way to visualize ';color space'; is to use the ';CIE chart';. You will see that cyan falls on a line between blue and green, yellow in the line between red and green, and magenta on the line between red and blue.