Did you read the book Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea?
I think that's one of those books I bought but haven't gotten around to reading, yet. Thanks for the reminder.
Math is kind of an easy subject to be able to to see how these different cultures though about things very differently than we did. There's zero. There's the idea that unit fractions are the only possibility. Negative numbers. Irrational numbers. My personal favorite, infinity. Each one really requires a paradigm shift. It's hard to think about, that they didn't just not use zero, they never conceived of the possibility of something like zero.
Another reason why Zero is my hero.
There's a Zorro joke there, but I just can't come up with it. I blame my headache.
Irrational numbers.
i is not a number!
t /kneejerk reaction
(That's my standard editrix rant; IIRC, I engaged in it this weekend. Pi notwithstanding, letters aren't numbers, arrrrrgh!!!!)
(You might say I'm a little...irrational...about it.)
i is not a number!
It is an imaginary one.
Noooooooo!!! Not any kind of number!
Leave the letters alooooooooone!!!!!!
(Okay, imaginary numbers are kind of cool, but in high school I was really dogmatic and knee-jerk in my dislike of them.)
(And I still don't understand how *imaginary* numbers work in *real* application.)
(And I still don't understand how *imaginary* numbers work in *real* application.)
It's the only way you can measure a unicorn's horn.
(And I still don't understand how *imaginary* numbers work in *real* application.)
They're very useful in electronics.
I'm with Steph WRT the practical applications-- if it is imaginary and not real, how does it help us make a curve in real life? Or what have you...
