Complex Numbers (Book)

Blog Calendar

◄ June ►
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:

Wordsmitty ✍️

about 2 hours ago
In response to "Gray Matters"

"who were between age nine and 39," - so the old folks need the rejuvenation formula first to turn back the years.

I wonder if anyone has studied why hair goes gray in certain places and not everywhere. Maybe different kinds of stress?

1 Like

🌖 HuntersMoon

about 5 hours ago
In response to "Gray Matters"

I've always believed "better gray than gone away..."

1 Like

tj-Merry Mischief Maker

about 24 hours ago
In response to "A Mammoth Discovery"

This makes think of a book, "Evolution and Genomic Diversity" by Gene Poole.

1 Like

tj-Merry Mischief Maker

a day ago
In response to "Hot Shoulder"

Maybe if we say, "Betelgeuse" three times in a row we can witness it.

1 Like

tj-Merry Mischief Maker

Dec 23, 2024 at 4:55pm
In response to "Trash Pandas"

Being an avid camper, keeping items out of the reach of raccoons can be challenging. We've had them figure out how to open coolers, open chests, and even gnaw through rope used to suspend a cooler out of their reach.

2 Like

🐕GeminiGem🎁

Dec 23, 2024 at 12:56pm
In response to "Trash Pandas"

I wrote one of my Danger Dog stories based on a childhood camping trip that involved a raccoon stealing grapes from our cooler "Danger Dog's Camping Capers"

I had always heard that cockroaches will be the only thing that survives a nuclear war/apocolypse, but maybe it will actually be the raccoons.

4 Like

🌖 HuntersMoon

Dec 23, 2024 at 10:04am
In response to "Trash Pandas"

Just wait until we team up with the cats...

4 Like

Jayngle Bells

Dec 23, 2024 at 10:03am
In response to "Trash Pandas"

The back of my property is sheltered by buildings and cedar trees, so I live on a "racoon highway." Tinfoil works until one takes it for the team and moves it. The only scent that somewhat deters then is ammonia - but they alter their path within the already preferred walkway, not avoid it completely. They generally leave the garbage bin alone, but that's because of the bears, not because of anything we do 😂

I've had more wildlife problems in the city than I ever did in the country. The first time I saw a deer up close? In the middle of my street directly in front of my house. Probably looking for the trash panda party. Lol

4 Like

Annette

Dec 21, 2024 at 11:59am
In response to "Neutral Zone"

It made me happy that I was able to like it. I take the small victories.

1 Like

tj-Merry Mischief Maker

Dec 20, 2024 at 6:06pm
In response to "To Err Is Human"

Right from the beginning I find myself asking, "How many times can anything go extinct?" On a side note, the other day while shopping I saw a neanderthal in the produce section. He was trying to fit in with modern clothes, but it was pretty obvious he was a neanderthal.

1 Like

June 26, 2024 at 10:04am

#1073197

The Oz Hypothesis

Couple of things to warn everyone about concerning today's link. First, and most importantly, it's from Metro (a UK tabloid), so it's not exactly reputable. Second, though most relevant, the page contains images that you probably don't want your boss or coworkers to see you looking at (in other words, NSFW). These include poorly-rendered nude sketches. It is not, however, pornographic.

In short, view at your own risk.

Disclaimers out of the way, here it is:

Secret medieval manuscript could actually be a very old sex guide

Yes, they mean the Voynich Manuscript.

Which I'll call the VM from now on because I'm lazy.

The Voynich manuscript has fascinated both scientists and the public for more than a century since it was rediscovered by a rare books dealer in 1912.

Many "rediscovered" books turn out to be more modern hoaxes. If the VM is a hoax, it's a very, very good one. So good that it's still worth figuring out the purpose of it.

Now however, two historians from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, think they may have found the meaning behind it – sex.

Lots of people have made guesses, educated and otherwise, about what it's for. These range from aliens having a laugh at our expense to, well, this, which I'll call the Oz Hypothesis.

Claiming it's about sex is a sure way to get people to notice, much as my cat refuses to pay attention to me until I say, "Treat!"

But while we don’t know who the first owner was, it’s fair to say they lived during a rather prudish time.

...says the article, immediately following the sentence with two illustrations from the VM featuring nekked wimmin.

Writing for The Conversation, study co-author Dr Keagan Brewer said: ‘One section contains illustrations of naked women holding objects adjacent to, or oriented towards, their genitalia. These wouldn’t belong in a solely herbal or astronomical manuscript. To make sense of these images, we investigated the culture of late-medieval gynaecology and sexology – which physicians at the time often referred to as “women’s secrets”.’

I probably would have been better off just linking that Conversation article, but then I wouldn't have had the opportunity to snark on the hilarious juxtaposition of "lived during a rather prudish time" and illustrations of women apparently bathing.

This suggests to avoid censorship, the author used a mix of the cipher and illustrations to share their message.

The problem with the Oz Hypothesis is that ciphers only work for communication when they can be, well, deciphered. The VM has been analyzed more thoroughly than a postmodern stream-of-consciousness novel, by some of the most accomplished cryptographers in the world, and no one has been able to crack the code.

This is also a problem for pretty much every other guess about the VM, with the possible exception of "space aliens playing a hoax."

Anyway, the article touches on some of the evidence for the Oz Hypothesis. Which, to me, is no more or less compelling as evidence than several other hypotheses (well, more compelling than "aliens," maybe).

But the sex angle is practically guaranteed to generate clicks.

2 Like • Comment • View 1 comment

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