friendlyfrog
Re:What are imaginary numbers?
on Friday September 21, 2012 @01:48PM (#4554808)
It's not arbitrary. It comes directly from the axiomatics.
Re:What are imaginary numbers?
on Friday September 21, 2012 @01:30PM (#4554725)
No it's not. i is a number such that i^2 = -1 by definition.
Re:What are imaginary numbers?
on Friday September 21, 2012 @01:26PM (#4554699)
Imaginary numbers are defined. Imaginary numbers are not rotations or anything else that I keep hearing. Those are all properties of the fact that we define an imaginary number to be z = a + bi, where a and b are real numbers, and i^2 = -1. That's it.
If someone asks what is an imaginary number the correct answer is "z = a+bi, where a and b are real numbers, and i^2 = -1".