There's nothing physical you can point to and say, "That's a 2."

Can't you do that with sufficient repetitions of two objects? Sufficient to distance it from the object itself, and instead focus on the quantity? It's not even that 2 is the concept of one object plus another of the same object, unless you spend a fair amount of time defining "same" and "object" which seem to be much harder than 2.

Yesterday morning before work it was -15 F here, with -30 F windchill. It had gotten down to -18 F overnight, apparently.

Today it rose to a balmy 4 above.

I went for a walk.

I also noticed fresh bicycle tire tracks in the snow.

WTF?

Since I am going to do my first webpage, this is all extremely useful info. Thanks.

None of the quickedits work in most of the real world (we stole the WebCrossing ones and expanded a little). You'll need to use my intermediate steps in my wordy post.

problems in engineering and physics where,

Electronics uses imaginary numbers to explain the relationship of pure resistance, capacitance and inductance in a circuit in what's known as rectangular notation. Resistance is described with real numbers and capacitance and inductance are described with imaginary numbers. That is because of the electrical relationship between the three. They don't physically correspond. When one element of the circuit is doing one thing, the others are doing something a little different. So, in order to describe where one element is in relationship to another along an X/Y graph, we use imaginary numbers. In all, it allows us to model the behavior of a circuit and what will happen to it if we change one of the elements. So, while it may be hard to understand, it is what allows us to develop all kinds of electronics equipment. 'Tis a necessary evil.

Since I am going to do my first webpage, this is all extremely useful info. Thanks.

Well, remember that quickedits are actually just shortcuts for HTML. Refer to ita's most recent explanatory post for what the actual HTML for the trad quote style here is.

x-posty!

None of the quickedits work in most of the real world (we stole the WebCrossing ones and expanded a little). You'll need to use my intermediate steps in my wordy post.

I have a whole book that my sister used for a class, and that my 65 year old dad used. I figure if it worked for dad, it'll work for me. Plus, I can go to source pages and just steal/copy a lot of HMTL, and adapt it to my text and pix, right?

Life is rough that way on three day weekends.

Amen to that. Sleeping in on Mondays when I would normally have to go to work is like saying "Fuck you, Monday!" in a sinful, gleefully way.

I now understand "i"--for a simple value of understand, that is. I'm much happier when I know what something is for, even if I don't completely understand it.

Sigh. Utah doesn't generally recognize MLK Day. But I will get Pioneer Day off on July 24th. Which is better, an extra holiday in the summer or in the winter?

For me, the trouble I had with the concept of the square root of a negative number was a lot like the trouble I had accepting the idea of negative numbers themselves. For years (it seemed like) the teachers had been telling me "You can't subtract a bigger number from a smaller number," and suddenly they were saying, "Now you can." I was mad at them for changing the rules.

For me, the trouble with the concept of the square root of a negative number was a lot like the trouble I had accepting the idea of negative numbers. For years (it seemed like) the teachers had been telling me "You can't subtract a bigger number from a smaller number," and suddenly they were saying, "Now you can." I was mad at them for changing the rules.

It must have been hell when people started agreeing on the use of Zero....