You couldn&#x27;t even name a paint by a short number (like a hex code) if you wanted to. That only works because we get to think of colors in terms of three channels, a mix of red&#x2F;green&#x2F;blue. Cherry (brand a) and Cherry (brand b) paint could look identical under daylight but totally different under incandescent.<p>To define an actual reflective color of an object, you need a spectral reflectance distribution. This measures what percent of light is reflected at any given wavelength.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu&#x2F;hbase&#x2F;vision&#x2F;imgvis&#x2F;spdcur.gif" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu&#x2F;hbase&#x2F;vision&#x2F;imgvis&#x2F;spd...</a><p>Then the actual color you see depends on the spectral power distribution of the light source. For every wavelength, you multiply the amount of light of that wavelength by the percent of light reflected at that wavelength, and you end up with a new spectral power distribution for light coming off the object.<p>That goes into your eye, hits the retina, activates three types of cones in some proportion, and your brain turns it into a perceived color.<p>Incidentally, the image linked above includes a tomato. “#FF6347” doesn&#x27;t cut it.<p>More info (and image source) here: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu&#x2F;hbase&#x2F;vision&#x2F;spd.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu&#x2F;hbase&#x2F;vision&#x2F;spd.html</a><p>Pantone works because it&#x27;s a lookup table that maps short names to a set of predefined reflectance distributions. In the real world, that&#x27;s as close to hex colors as we can get.