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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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PROMPT May 21st
Write an open letter to a person or group of people you strongly disagree with and explain why. Use reason not emotion.
Dear Chicago and environs (aka Chicagoland):
That thing you make? With the deep dish and soft bread and thick, gooey toppings?
That's not pizza.
I don't know how you can call it pizza, unless your definition of "pizza" equates to "casserole with bread on the bottom." It's more like a pot pie without a top crust, a crust which is replaced by extra thickness on the bottom one. Pizza -- real, actual, honest pizza -- involves a particular consistency of crust, and fewer toppings than it takes to choke a bear.
Now, don't get me wrong. It can be delicious. I have, indeed, enjoyed the taste of a deep-dish topless pot pie in the past, and probably will again if I can ever make another road trip, or at least find an abomination factory close by.
But it is not pizza.
I know you try very, very hard to distinguish your city from New York, and you mostly succeed. I mean, New York actually has functioning sportsball teams and slightly less crappy weather. But when it comes to pizza, the Platonic ideal comes from a little oven in Queens, run by actual Italian immigrants who only get heart attacks from hearing about how Chicago has mutilated the entire concept of pizza, not from eating said pie.
Oh, well. At least you don't put chili on top of pasta like they do in Cincinnati. But if your entire identity is "at least we're not Cincinnati," you have failed as a city.
Signed,
Waltz
(not an actual Italian)
P.S. California, you're next. Avocado is never an acceptable pizza topping, even if you do get the crust mostly right.
I warned y'all I would do this, and here it is:
A one-sentence movie review of Wrath of Man
While you can't go wrong casting Jason Statham, and the movie has an impressive body count and excellent gunfight scenes, there exists in the film a serious lack of car chases and explosions, two things that can elevate a film from merely good to a cinematic masterpiece.
Rating: 4/5 |
© 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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