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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.
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If I thought I was going to live to 90, I might do some things differently.
PROMPT May 20th
If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you choose?
I mean, if you've been following along, my answer should be really obvious.
Still, I have to say it depends. Do I get to pick the 30-year-old? Can she be hot?
Seriously, though, it depends on what's actually meant by "the mind of a 30-year-old." If I were writing a monkey's paw story where someone wishes to retain the mind of a 30-year-old for 60 years, I'd probably get them stuck at age 30 in terms of not being able to learn anything new. With age comes experience as well as some loss of mental flexibility, and it would really suck to keep the flexibility but be unable to use it.
I'm not sure if I'm explaining this right. I spent five hours on the phone today, mostly on hold, trying to get an account sorted out at the bank. That hold music is now etched into my synapses until the end of time. When I finally got it sorted, I drank to try to get the muzak out of my brain. In that, I was only partially successful, and now between the earworm and the lingering aftereffects of an entire bottle of really good red zinfandel, I'm not sure I'm thinking straight.
Anyway, let's not do the monkey's paw thing and assume that by "the mind of a 30 year old" it's meant to be mental flexibility, learning ability, neuronal plasticity, all that. Well, then, definitely that. I'm way more focused on mental pursuits than physical, anyway, and after seeing both of my parents gradually deteriorate from dementia before age 90, I know for certain that I don't want to go there myself. I'd rather be physically feeble and mentally alert than mentally feeble and physically hale.
While sex would be better with the latter, that's not going to happen with me anyway, so why bother?
All of this, of course, assumes that it's truly a binary choice, like the one a while back that asked if you had to lose either hearing or sight, which would you choose. If a genie popped out of one of my beer bottles and told me those were my only choices, I'd ask for another beer instead. I mean, life is life, right? Cheating isn't any fun. |
© 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.
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