About This Author
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.
December 30, 2018 at 12:17am December 30, 2018 at 12:17am
|
So, you thought 2018 was bad...
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive
Not much to say here, really, except that interdisciplinary science is cool.
"We've entered a new era with this ability to integrate ultra–high-resolution environmental records with similarly high resolution historical records," Loveluck says. "It's a real game changer."
Whenever you see someone on TV with a PhD, the implication is "wow, this person is really smart and knows a lot about their field." In reality, though, PhDs tend to focus in on minute details of one aspect of one branch of study. Perhaps it's just because I prefer to know a little bit about a lot of things than a lot about a single thing, but I find this sort of syncretic science fascinating.
Both approaches are necessary, of course. But you don't often get archaeologists, climate scientists, historians, and practitioners of other disciplines working together. When you do, things get interesting because you have multiple insights into the same era, painting a better picture of what really happened.
In any event, while the past sure is interesting, I'm not one of those people who romanticizes it. I'd rather be in my own era. Or possibly in the future. Still sore about not having a flying car. So this article puts things in perspective for me: 2018 was not, after all, the Worst Year Ever. |
© 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.
|