Complex Numbers (Book)

Blog Calendar

◄ April ► 2020
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
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:

Elycia Lee ☮

about 3 hours ago
In response to "There Is A Such Thing As Coincidence"

I loveeee the photo! You guys look good!

Coincidences are great! So happy you met!

2 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

about 16 hours ago
In response to "Two Castles and a Cave"

That's definitely a wonderful picture that shows the whole story. When enlarged, it's a little fuzzy as if after quite a few bottles of wine.

1 Like

Annette in France

about 19 hours ago
In response to "Two Castles and a Cave"

After being in Tours for an afternoon/evening and only, my favorite part of my time there was to see you.
Old Tours with its medieval houses is charming to stroll through, but France has many charming old towns.

The most impressive cave system that I went to this vacation is under the Chateau de Brézé. It is where the Troglodytes lived. Their caves didn't only house people, they even had underground horse stables.

Interestingly, Chateau de Brézé is also a wine castle complete with an attached tasting room. Even the gift shop sells mostly wine along some postcards.

1 Like

Elisa: Middle Aged Stik

about 21 hours ago
In response to "Two Castles and a Cave"

Oddly enough, Tours is a sister city to Minneapolis. That still isn't enough of a reason for me to visit France, but it's still a nice bit of trivia.

2 Like

Kåre Enga in Montana

a day ago
In response to "There Is A Such Thing As Coincidence"

That's awesome. Enjoy your visit of the Loire.

TGV = tren à grande vitesse = HST. I only took it once, Paris > Luxembourg. Everything was a blur.

2 Like

Annette in France

a day ago
In response to "There Is A Such Thing As Coincidence"

That was a total coincidence. I didn't even plan to go to Tours at all. I was there because of the way I planned out a travel leg. To run into you on the other side of the Atlantic in a random town was pure luck.
It was fun to catch up with you.

2 Like

Brandiwyn🎶

a day ago
In response to "There Is A Such Thing As Coincidence"

Love it when stars align!

2 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

Sep 24, 2024 at 5:15pm
In response to "All Out of Louvre"

I agree. You should always check the "Five Must Dos in ..." before you go, so you know what to avoid from crowds.

Smurfs are universal.

1 Like

Elisa: Middle Aged Stik

Sep 24, 2024 at 11:30am
In response to "All Out of Louvre"

That street art is definitely a step up.

1 Like

Annette in France

Sep 24, 2024 at 9:55am
In response to "All Out of Louvre"

I'm already out of Paris.

3 Like

April 3, 2020 at 12:12am

#980096

Ya Think?

I've been saying something like this for years.

https://theoutline.com/post/7142/be-yourself-is-terrible-advice?zd=2&zi=g32iywmn...

“Be yourself” is terrible advice
Take a better lesson from philosophy and me, a reformed loudmouth

Mostly, what I've said has been along the lines of, "Don't be yourself. Be what you want to be, and eventually that will be you." That and, "Be Batman."

Some great advice I once got was “Be less yourself.” This was in 2016, a couple of months after I left the Gawker website in part because I live-tweeted a meeting during which my boss hit his head on a lamp.

"Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?"

“Be yourself” is the kind of empty self-help mandate uttered by such disparate artists as Audioslave and Oprah; something that that is typically (and ironically) advised before coming into contact with strangers.

Coincidentally, I'm not a fan of either of those.

Luckily for everyone, I started going to therapy, and it was during one of my first few sessions that my kind therapist who gives me all of my article ideas told me that the consequences that came from what I thought was “being myself” could be avoided simply by not being what I thought was “being myself,” mostly because the former self was a huge asshole.

The single most constant fact of life, apart from death and taxes, is that people change. You can direct that change to improve yourself, or you can let it happen and who knows where that's going to go?

The first problem with it is that it is an impossible task: a holistic self does not exist; we are made of many selves that are revealed through endless experimentation and self-examination.

I didn't know I liked beer, for example, until I tried it. Until that point, I wasn't "a beer drinker."

The second problem is that today’s popular notion of the self mistakes feelings and desires for self-knowledge. Heidegger thought (extremely roughly) that knowledge of one’s authentic self could be found through the consideration of our own mortality: that feeling you might get after you have a near-death experience.

It is impossible to read anything attributed to Heidegger (or several other thinkers) without thinking of "Bruce's Philosophers Song" from Monty Python.

Hey, if it's stuck in my head, it needs to be stuck in yours as well.

Wittgenstein took a more social approach to self-discovery.

Him, too.

The author goes on to write some self-indulgent claptrap about having a dog.

Oh my god, is this me now? Am I a horrible, treacly, sentimental dog person?

Yes. Own that shit.

Heavens no.

You have learned nothing, grasshopper.

My friend John, who graciously explained a lot of Heidegger to me in the process of writing this article so if I’m wrong about any of it please blame him, said: “Ask yourself periodically, is this who I really wanna be?”

And she's still not owning her shit.

So there you have it: “Be yourself” is terrible advice. Especially if you are a jerk, but probably even if you are not.

Self-centered writing style aside, she makes some good points. It takes a bit of humility to recognize when you're wrong and other people are right. My own takeaway from this? Don't be so damn sure of yourself.

Of that, I'm certain.

3 Like • Comment • View 3 comments

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