GinAndTonicAllTheWay
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FP edit: Dudettes and dudes, relax. I'm well aware of some appliances of imaginary numbers. I just found this funny.
Just goes to show that mathematicians are convergent, right?
ispendtomuchtimehere
sometimes we all need a good cry
LoopDog69
VAR.
IamfunatpartiesIknow
But ... the imaginary numbers are a thing because they solve an existing problem. And then they started making sense on their own
Kbantar
Like the "joke" so damn many say about, "if we evolved from apes, then why do chimps still exist?" It just shows your cringey ignorance.
Stupidusername42069
It is an unfortunate choice, although I think Gauss prefered the term lateral numbers which makes it seem like the live beside R
justshutyourpiehole
They're just the algebraic closure (polynomial roots) of reals, like negative numbers are the closure of positive numbers under subtraction.
Sarkazeoh
youisrealspecial
Multiplicative inverse. I can’t math anymore
mrshinethediamond
It's proof that mathematicians have a sense of humor. What's the opposite of "real"? "Imaginary."
Mmmmm337
The best 'lay' way to visualize the importance of imaginary numbers isn't a perfect analogy, but works well enough. Think of the >>
Mmmmm337
relationship between kinetic and potential energy. It's easy to see something in motion as energetic, but harder to think of something >>
Mmmmm337
up high as more energetic than something down low [book on a shelf, versus on the floor. . . or water above a dam, versus running down it]>>
Mmmmm337
imaginary numbers is a way of accounting for the potential stored in equations, even while they're not doing anything obvious to the >>
Mmmmm337
particular system we are analyzing.
useless3y3s
All numbers are imaginary. It's just a description of a quantity.
hewhoknowsnothingbuthowtofish
Those imaginary numbers turn out to be nothing but common dark matter.
Lefthandofgod
The crying part is accurate.
apostlepk
The phone you used to upload this post used them
wemohu365
Was ist das ??
Jonataurus
It's just a stupid name. Call them funky numbers and there would be less confusion.
LordofSandvich
Basically we fucked around trying to use math to model things and found we couldn't model specific things, mostly periodic movement
LordofSandvich
so we made numbers that allow us to model those things
EveryoneDiesAlone
Wait until you find out about quaternions and octonions.
boberasarah
I want to down vote, but I can’t...
TypeOne
also mathematicians don't know grammar, Its "i am imaginary" not "i is imaginary".
nancini6292718
Andnsilent letters
SageOfDepth
https://youtu.be/T647CGsuOVU A useful video
graehall
That fucking dimensional shift when they pull the grid out of the paper and show the result. Oh my god that's well done.
LadyLuthien
Thats such a great video series!
ISeeNippleWithoutLittleKids
It's complex
UKMonkey
i agrees.
amatte
I prefer complex than imaginary. Finally figured out it's a way to show the phase shift on the z axis
SLCtechie
I ℂ what you did there
ISeeNippleWithoutLittleKids
How do I get set notation characters...
SLCtechie
I usually just Google the char I want, and include “Unicode-8 or ANSII” in my search. Then copy the respective char. Eg ANSII complex symbol
ISeeNippleWithoutLittleKids
Thank you
SLCtechie
*meant ASCII, not ANSII
ISeeNippleWithoutLittleKids
I knew what you meant
AGirthyPoro
Came back for this one. Well done.
yourbassist
Don't be irrational
ISeeNippleWithoutLittleKids
What can I say? I'm a radical dude.
Fjwkak
Let’s not divide now
ISeeNippleWithoutLittleKids
I reciprocate this
WwwhyYouNoLikeMe
I doubt you can differentiate this
DoctorSniffles
Honestly you seem rather derivative.
ISeeNippleWithoutLittleKids
My jokes are an integral part to this community!
DoctorSniffles
If you're so important how come you only have *checks profile* 158k points. Doesn't really add up if you ask me.
TheS4ndm4n
Don't be a square. So negative.
FlyingButtPliers
What happens if you divide by this? That's impossible. OK, we'll just call that "i"
OhmyBandit
HowardMoonsHotpants
How do you say goodbye?
3Davideo
Actually they solve more problems than they create and ultimately lead to a more cohesive system of numbers, not to mention being vital to >
3Davideo
> several other fields such as electrical engineering and quantum physics.
Tesseract09
And 3d rotations
GiddyKipper
There are more numbers between zero and three than there are numbers at all... strange but true.
GinAndTonicAllTheWay
Cantor taught us that some infinities are larger than other infinities.
BenSpacey
There are 'more' real numbers in any interval than there are integers
IamfunatpartiesIknow
Oh, that's what they wanted to say
AllTheGoodOnesWereGone
Imaginary numbers are very much genuine numbers, they're just poorly named. Nothing "imaginary" about them at all.
HeadlineNews
Please show me -1 apples.
Tesseract09
That's just sent. There's still 1 apple, someone just owes it to you.
HeadlineNews
Higure
Exactly. I also want it to be known that i=√(-1) is exactly the wrong way to teach them, yet everyone does it. i^2=-1 is much better.
alex5775
To be fair, by the time you're learning imaginary numbers, there shouldn't be a huge difference between the two
SquirrelsTalkToDogs
They just sprung "i" on my teenager & a huge fight was had, that he couldn't write a capital I instead. Oh, math.....
alex5775
Too be fair, mathematic notation means a lot in the field. Capital I likely already exists and means something unrelated
SquirrelsTalkToDogs
That's what I'd hoped to tell him, but I didn't know something exact. Variables being able to be whatever...til they're not. Its tough!
Higure
Yes, there is a gigantic difference in mental framing. I frequent math.stackexchange and I see the damages nearly daily.
Higure
Also i=√(-1), besides being noticeably more cumbersome, is just factually wrong without clarifications that you're not ready for at first.
Higure
https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/438 is what happens when you're lured into believing that complex square roots are a good idea.
AllTheGoodOnesWereGone
Also you might think, ok with have complex numbers x + yi, so why does it not just go on adding dimenstions forever? x + yi + zj... etc. But
AllTheGoodOnesWereGone
it turns out that it's easy to show that you never need more than real+imaginary parts interestingly. So no need for any thing MORE complex!
AllTheGoodOnesWereGone
Ok, at least to solve polynomials. Per The Fundamental Theory of Algebra.
Higure
Quaternions (x+iy+jz+kw) are essential in computer graphics, as they describe rotations of 3d space like complex numbers describe the plane.
Higure
Also, it keeps going on, but the number of terms must be a power of 2. Because of course it must.
MickeyCallahan
Umm... Quaternions say hi.
AllTheGoodOnesWereGone
Fine.
dei12
What would a better name for them be?
AllTheGoodOnesWereGone
Some discussion: https://www.quora.com/What-would-be-a-better-name-for-imaginary-numbers
Gryfer
I’ve heard “lateral” numbers used and that resonated with me.
Meltemi
I don't mean to be negative, but it's positively irrational how many sets of numbers pick up these sorts of names.
Higure
Irrational because they aren't ratios. Makes total sense.
CoffeeZombie
Please explain this to my 12th grade Calculus teacher. She insisted 22/7 is an irrational number because 22/7 is pi.
sturmhauke
How the fuck is she a math teacher?
CoffeeZombie
Higure
That's just sad. I'm sorry.
PerfectManhattanUp
They were so named by the mathematic conservatives at the time that didn't like them, kinda like how some Greeks were killed for...
PerfectManhattanUp
Possessing the proof that the square root of 2 was irrational. The old guard always hates the new math of the youngins.
AllTheGoodOnesWereGone
And the "big bang" was a derogative name implying an orgasm, and Edison invented the (AC) electric chair to try to show how dangerous AC was
Higure
And Monopoly was specifically designed as a terrible board game to show how bad capitalism is.
Them3OtherGuys
Then a guy writes a story about how imaginary numbers are stupid, but writes it so trippy that everyone thinks it's about drugs.
brocolicheddar
Whats the story
funkAsDruck
Sherlock Holmes
jetflight
morning glory
Phoenix0rion
What's the word
Rehjee
Women but in British.
theagtm
Bird is the word
LurkerOfDarkness
Bird.
mrose50
Alice in Wonderland. Here's a link to Steven Fry on QI talking about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okf2hb5ptbg&ab_channel=QI
lapmore
big dot
xizar
Just click the link and book mark it. You don't need to dot this for later.
Poppthe1th
small .
manulofdoom
The weird thing is: not only aren't imaginary numbers breaking math, they actually make sense in parts of physics, too
jansenart
@OP And nature. This meme is just ignorance, or someone who's never seen how fractals work.
LordNergal
That's because the universe isn't actually modellable in mathematics without using some workarounds, which imaginary numbers are.
PballQhead
More like basic grade-school arithmetic is a tiny sliver of math; the math that describes the Universe has far, far trickier things than i.
PballQhead
This is a gross oversimplification, but imaginary numbers are just a different way of looking at the Cartesian (x-y) plane.
DukeOfAnkhMorpork
PballQhead
Shut up, you aren't Sam Vimes.
DukeOfAnkhMorpork
Don't start with me, Carcer. I know it's you.
PballQhead
Woah woah woah that escalated quickly. Just a concerned citizen here.
kebabpipe
How are imaginary numbers breaking math?
manulofdoom
They are not. That's what I said.
kebabpipe
Right. You could say .. I imagined it
JKGoose
In electronics they are inductance.
PballQhead
When you work backwards from Maxwell's equations to EE math, going from partial differentials to algebra, you see why. It's quite elegant.
HappySeahorse40s
Phase, right?
JKGoose
Yes
LordElrond8
Its a very natural way to deal with oscillations. If you really want your mind blown, look up quaternions. They naturally handle 3D rotation
idontenglishsorry
I would look it up but im fairly certain I wont understand a thing
JustHereForDoggos
Unit quaternions*
ATerribleArtist
The only reason I know about quaternions is from having to animate rotations. No normal person needs that in their live though.
sturmhauke
Quaternions are why I never got into working on 3D physics engines. I can program lots of other things, but fuck that shit.
ATerribleArtist
Thankfully with animation, I didn't have to be perfect. I could guess and shoot for "close enough"
IrrelativeTheory
I'm an Euler angle man myself, but quaternions are neat.
RandyKnapp
Enjoy your gimbal lock, neanderthal!
IrrelativeTheory
Well I learned something new! That's what I get for being a physics knucklehead!
RandyKnapp
We game programmers adopted quaternions for orientation a few decades ago.
Farinhadefigo
I tend to think that Math is just a tool that we invented to understand the functioning of the world. Real numbers are just as imaginary as/
EchoPMIM
Arguably, most real numbers--specifically the irrational and non-computable majority of them--are less real than imaginary numbers!
Farinhadefigo
imaginary numbers. We happen to think of the number i as less real than, say, sqrt(2) because of the names we have to those numbers. /
Farinhadefigo
I also don't think that Math is a universal language that we can use to talk to aliens. They probably understand the universe by using /
Farinhadefigo
a completely different language that we can't even comprehend because we're accustomed to our ways.
sturmhauke
They would certainly use different math notation, and probably wildly different language, but the underlying math would be the same.
Farinhadefigo
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. I wish you have a good day.