The most common example is black characters on a white

background. Without anti-aliasing, diagonal edges appear

jagged, like staircases, which may be noticeable on a low

resolution display. If the display can show intermediate

greys then anti-aliasing can be applied. A pixel will be

black if it is completely within the black area, or white if

it is completely outside the black area, or an intermediate

shade of grey according to the proportions of it which overlap

the black and white areas. The technique works similarly with

other foreground and background colours.