I don't know the term "imaginary" numbers. But if it's the same as complex numbers, then sure, adding a real number (which is also complex, as Sergey said) to complex numbers will get you a complex number.

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I don't know the term "imaginary" numbers. But if it's the same as complex numbers, then sure, adding a real number (which is also complex, as Sergey said) to complex numbers will get you a complex number.

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Ok, I am back. Prior to "imaginary" numbers the domain set of the square root "function" was strictly the set of non-negative numbers. If you were to take a negative number mulitiply it by itself you would have a positive number. If you take a positive number and mulitply itself you would still have a positive number. The implication of this line of reasoning is that their is no real number when multiplied by itself which is equal to a negative number. You can't have your cake and ice cream both. Mathematicans could go back and decide that the product of two negative numbers is a negative number but then that would have some really bad implications and would radically alter all the rules that math depends on. So, mathematicans can't change the way things are defined already without losing the power of the existing definitions. Well, why do you need a negative square root of negative number? Well the original motivation was categorizing the roots of polynomial equations. Like in the quadratic formula in the discriminate (the numbers inside the square root part of the quadratic formula) sometimes the number has to be negative like in the case with the polynomial x^2 +1. By counting these solutions too, even though there are no such real numbers, you can prove the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra which states that every polynomial of a certain number of degrees has exactly that number of degrees. The reason why this bit of information is so important to me is that imaginary numbers are important in video game development. Imaginary numbers in video game development are just the beginning necessary components of complex and hyper-complex numbers. These certain hyper-complex numbers called quaternions are important for rotations in along the x, y, z axis in a 3 dimensional world where components to a vector can be represented in a quaternion. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. -Reagan

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Are you angry that others disappoint you? remember you cannot depend upon yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin

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Originally posted by mestiza: What is the solution for: x^2 + 1 = 0?

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Ни разу неграмотный чтоль? Это ж и ежу понятно: » solve('x^2 + 1 = 0') ans = [ i] [ -i]

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just to put my 5 cents: don't want to offend anyone but complex numbers are middle school (or maybe first years of hight school) material (even in states) :) lyosha ****************** What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

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lyosha
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What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

yeah I know that snake. But they don't always teach all the theory behind imaginary numbers and how it applies to set theory and how you can use them in Linear Algebra and Differential equations. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. -Reagan

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Are you angry that others disappoint you? remember you cannot depend upon yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin

If I was a teacher of math, I could probably make it more interesting than the average math teacher because I could show what you could use all this math for. Most math professors...they stick strictly with theory and the dry reading of the textbook which that part is important. But if I were to construct a parabola on a cartesian coordinate plane and explain how it can be used to model the behavior of rainfall in a video game then it becomes more interesting. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. -Reagan

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Are you angry that others disappoint you? remember you cannot depend upon yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin

I mean like you know, they offer whole courses at the universities on Set Theory alone. In high school, they teach you about functions but in order to truly understand functions you have to have some of these university courses in Set Theory. And generally speaking, high schools don't go in depth on Set Theory. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation. -Reagan

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Are you angry that others disappoint you? remember you cannot depend upon yourself.
-Benjamin Franklin