Complex Numbers (Book)

Blog Calendar

◄ October ► 2023
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31
Archive				RSS

About This Author

Contact Me

Come closer.

Complex Numbers

Complex Numbers

A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number.

The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi.

Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary.

Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty.

http://www.ddewey.net/mandelbrot/

Signature for Honorable Mentions in 2018 Quill Awards

A signature for exclusive use of winners at the 2019 Quill Awards

Signature for those who have won a Quill Award at the 2020 Quill Awards

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Brandiwyn🎶

a day ago
In response to "Blond Man's Bluff"

That's interesting about the two spellings of blonde. I always thought blonde referred to the person and blond referred to the hair. But I never bothered to look it up, So you've catered to my lazy today.

3 Like

Kåre เลียม Enga

Nov 9, 2024 at 1:02pm
In response to "It Was a Dark and Starry Night"

Ah... but why did he see those swirls when many of us don't? A totally different discussion... out of thin air... which is a frozen fog today when I gaze out the window.

Humans have great skills of observation; some of us extraordinary skills. Is The Scream depictive or evocative? 😱

Turkey DrumStik

Nov 9, 2024 at 11:04am
In response to "It Was a Dark and Starry Night"

Frankly, I'm more surprised to see reasonably good reporting from CNN. I'd given up on their ability to rein in their tendency toward loaded speech.

2 Like

JayNaNoOhNo

Nov 8, 2024 at 12:00pm
In response to "Bungalow Bash"

For the love of God, what did I just read? That is by far the worst use case of a bungalow I've ever seen, and a fundamental misunderstanding of the value of front porches—and the size of bungalows.

Was this his point? Nope, I know what his point was. For a guy so worried about presentation, he certainly undercut his own arguement.

1 Like

Turkey DrumStik

Nov 8, 2024 at 9:47am
In response to "Bungalow Bash"

"People don't change their minds on the internet. They usually do that in books, battlefields, or not at all.

Yeah, that's a little bleak."

Bleak and also inaccurate.

1 Like

Kåre เลียม Enga

Nov 7, 2024 at 10:19pm
In response to "Past and Future Intents"

I must live in the present. In the past I daydreamed a lot... probably to escape the bruises of reality; however, I need to be more aware crossing streets or even how I get out of bed (no rapid movements without thinking of consequences).

I can envision a future more peaceful than the present because this time-and-place isn't the only "present" that's ever existed, and I do try to see the larger view (emphasis on 'try').

1 Like

Lilli 🧿 ☕

Nov 7, 2024 at 10:58am
In response to "Past and Future Intents"

If the aforementioned exercises don't help; there's still liquor.

3 Like

Turkey DrumStik

Nov 6, 2024 at 10:22am
In response to "Lo!"

Not gonna lie I need the holiday season chatter.

Aiva Raine

Nov 5, 2024 at 3:03pm
In response to "It's Hard Not To Scare"

Shaking head. Aside from the inevitable Simpson's spider goat song playing in my head which I will now share with you below, whenever I come across a story that has all these scientists doing ridiculous experiments for no logical reason, I must go- ah- scientists- CANCER? You do remember that problem right? Can we maybe cure that before we make cockroaches magnetic and elephants see pink elephants?

spider pig clip- and if you all now are singing the spider goat song- you're welcome! grin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BARjPuUN36Y

1 Like

Aiva Raine

Nov 5, 2024 at 2:55pm
In response to "Anomalies"

One of your more humorous entries- I especially enjoyed- "Lofoten Vortex can be the name of my Bjork cover band."

Thanks for the laughs. Much appreciated.

2 Like

October 17, 2023 at 9:15am

#1057553

Scarlet

Scarlet
an entry for "Journalistic Intentions"

[18+]

Unlike with most words, I have a vague memory of my first known encounter with this one. I know it was in a comic book, but (this is where the vague comes in) I can't remember if it referred to the color of Superman's cape, or they called The Flash by one of his nicknames, the Scarlet Speedster.

It would be many years before I was forced to read Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter as part of an AP English curriculum in high school, so never let it be said that we can't learn things from comic books.

The upshot of this is that, for me, the word and color "scarlet" would always be associated with heroism, and not, as turns out to be the case in our complicated psychological color map, sin. The shade of red associated with romantic love, e.g. on V-Day, is much darker (as is appropriate), and actual primary-color red mostly just has "stop!" and "expense!" connotations. Which also reminds me of romance.

The red used in comics, though, is red, not scarlet. There's a historical reason for this: the most common (probably cheapest) technology for printing in something other than monochrome was the four-color technique.

There's a lot of technical stuff at that link that's irrelevant right now, but you might recognize that the system is still in use. You might even have one in your home and/or office, comprised of a cheap-ass loss-leader printer, using four cartridges of ink that, ounce for ounce, is probably more expensive than gold.

Hence, Superman (or The Flash) was rendered, in comics and in the Sunday newspaper, mostly in bright primary and complementary colors: red, green, blue, magenta, cyan... even yellow, which doesn't always show up well against a white background.

Actual scarlet, which is on the red side of reddish-orange, was probably too subtle for the four-color process. But there, I'm just guessing. "Scarlet speedster" was likely used more for its alliteration than chromatic accuracy.

As I can't seem to do one of these entries without researching etymology, though, I did so, and discovered that, apparently, scarlet was a relatively early word adopted into English: it appears in Old English texts as far back as 1250 C.E.

, while the color itself stretches back into the first millennium B.C.E.

And, like I said above, it's often associated with sin, because of English translations of the Bible. But I reject that association and substitute my own.

4 Like • Comment • View 2 comments

© Copyright 2024 Robert Waltz (UN: cathartes02 at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Robert Waltz has granted InkSpot.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.