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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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May 31, 2020 at 12:18am
May 31, 2020 at 12:18am
#984650
With May's 30DBC behind me and June yet to begin, I thought about doing my usual riff on a link, but I just can't be arsed today.

Nine years ago, I witnessed the final Space Shuttle launch. Well... sort of. I was in Florida anyway, and I hung out on a pier and looked north toward Cape Canaveral. I didn't really expect much, because it was kind of cloudy, but through a gap in the cloud cover, I saw the very distinct smoke trail left by the booster engines.

Since then, we, by which I mean the US, you know, the country that first landed dudes on the moon because we were in a propaganda war with the USSR, have been paying Russia to launch our astronauts into orbit, because we as a country couldn't work up the will to do it ourselves.

And no, don't give me that shit about space exploration / development / colonization / science / whatever being a waste of money, or that we should instead be concentrating our efforts on fixing racism or stopping gun violence or ending hunger or reversing climate change or developing a COVID-19 vaccine or whatever your little pet cause is, before daring to venture off the planet. That's fucking bullshit. It's like saying "why are you cleaning the kitchen when you could be at work earning money?" And there will always be another problem that needs fixing; that won't end until we do.

Okay, yes, all of those things and more are important, too. But there are over seven billion of us on the planet. We (and this time I mean all of humanity) can do more than one thing at a time. And as for the money thing, some people act like we're taking wads of cash and burning them, when the reality is that spending money on this sort of thing boosts the economy. We kind of need that right now.

Anyway, that's why I watched the launch yesterday, because MY little pet cause is that we should be getting our asses into space, and I'm glad that we (and now I'm back in my own country) seem to be getting back on track with that and I wanted some closure after nine years of overpaying a government that doesn't seem to have our best interests in mind to do what we should have been doing all along.

So yeah, civilization is collapsing all around us, but at least we have that.


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