Imaginary friends of mathematics.

[Anymouse]

Forgive my lack of training on the subject of higher maths. (I only have been to high school, the US Navy, and now edit Romance novels).

A thought occurred to me: mathematicians have imaginary friends, too. Just like theists. Imaginary numbers: for example, the square root of -1.

Considering this, I went further, as an atheist might to challenge the claims propounded for a deity by a theist, one example being argument by absurdity.

So if we have this imaginary number i, that only exists to define the square root of negative numbers (you cannot give an example of i apples, for instance), what happens if you take the square root of i? Does the entire body of mathematics collapse into a black hole, or does the mathematician's brain short?

James. Always more absurdities. Always.

[Chuck]

Taking a square root of an imaginary number gives a complex number that is part real, part imaginary, and that is no joke. And don't be too glib about what is obsurd.

[BethK]

Ah, you're just writing this because I yelled out, "s**2 * sin (a)" and "Laplace transformation" and "dx/dt (x**2) = 2x" this morning before settling in on "Square Root of -PI!!!!" That is no more imaginary than "Oh God!"

Squares of imaginary numbers are complex, just like life. Almost everything is part real and part imaginary.

[LastPoet]

(5th July 2011 23:50)Anymouse Wrote:  
Forgive my lack of training on the subject of higher maths. (I only have been to high school, the US Navy, and now edit Romance novels).

A thought occurred to me: mathematicians have imaginary friends, too. Just like theists. Imaginary numbers: for example, the square root of -1.

Considering this, I went further, as an atheist might to challenge the claims propounded for a deity by a theist, one example being argument by absurdity.

So if we have this imaginary number i, that only exists to define the square root of negative numbers (you cannot give an example of i apples, for instance), what happens if you take the square root of i? Does the entire body of mathematics collapse into a black hole, or does the mathematician's brain short?

James. Always more absurdities. Always.

Applications of complex numbers

[Tiberius]

http://tinyurl.com/2bfmbog

Problem solved.

[FallentoReason]

(5th July 2011 23:50)Anymouse Wrote:  
Forgive my lack of training on the subject of higher maths. (I only have been to high school, the US Navy, and now edit Romance novels).

A thought occurred to me: mathematicians have imaginary friends, too. Just like theists. Imaginary numbers: for example, the square root of -1.

Considering this, I went further, as an atheist might to challenge the claims propounded for a deity by a theist, one example being argument by absurdity.

So if we have this imaginary number i, that only exists to define the square root of negative numbers (you cannot give an example of i apples, for instance), what happens if you take the square root of i? Does the entire body of mathematics collapse into a black hole, or does the mathematician's brain short?

James. Always more absurdities. Always.

Squaring i and therefore getting complex numbers is the pillar of modern electrical engineering. I gather their brains didn't implode from squaring it

[mannaka]

It's probably best to picture complex numbers as an extension perpendicular from zero on a real number sequence.

Like this:

It's pretty integral to civil engineering too (amongst other fields), so I should bloody hope they work or a few buildings might fall down!