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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.
September 15, 2018 at 12:45am September 15, 2018 at 12:45am
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I think I'm becoming evil in my old age. Well, more evil, anyway.
These past couple of days, I've been hearing about people who decided to ignore evacuation orders and stay in a hurricane zone.
Now, I'm a gambling man. But it's one thing to risk a few bucks at the blackjack tables, and entirely another to stay in a place that has a good chance of being flooded and/or blown away on the wind. Not that I don't understand, at least to some extent. Someone tells me to leave my home, hell, I might even make the same choice.
But then... then some of these people started asking for help. And that's where I draw the line. So I say: Fuck 'em. Now they've not only put their own lives at risk - their choice - but also those of emergency responders.
And then I think, well, there are at least three situations I can see where it makes sense to have a bit of empathy for their plight. One story I saw before the hurricane hit was a mother who stayed with her three children. Why make the children suffer for their mother's choice? They didn't decide to be born unto an idiot. And emergency responders made their choices, too.
Yeah, I know, the storm wasn't as bad as predictions indicated. But that could have gone either way, really. Like I said, a gamble. No sympathy for the stupid, here.
But my lack of sympathy doesn't stop there. Today, a retail clerk asked me if I wanted to donate to some children's charity. I refused. Then she rang me up and proceeded to try to get me to sign one of those little "I donated" signs they hang up in retail establishments. "I didn't donate," I reminded her.
"Oh, that's right," she replied, thus adding to the extortionist tactics in front of the other people in line.
I tell myself it's because I donate to whom I choose, when I choose, and I'd rather pick organizations that have low overhead so the money goes to actual victims, not charity organizers. But honestly, children's charities are at the very bottom of my list, behind disaster relief, pet rescues, and casino owners. Partly because of the overhead, yeah, but partly because I just don't give a damn.
I also turned off Amber Alerts on my phone because I simply don't care. I tell myself it's because I'm rarely in a position to do anything about it, and the notification is annoying, but I have weather alert sirens turned on in the damn thing because that could affect me.
Now the only real question is: can I live with being ethically constipated - that is, utterly failing to give a shit?
Maybe. We'll see. I do know I'm not actively seeking laxatives for it. |
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