i j

[Labarum]

Anybody know about imaginary numbers?

[bilowi]

Re: i j

Dr Math says:

Contrary to what some people might tell you, imaginary numbers are not numbers that only exist in the brains of weird people. Or maybe they are; all numbers in math are "imaginary" in the sense that you can't touch them or experience them directly.



But this is not what people mean when they talk about imaginary numbers. Imaginary numbers are numbers that can be written as a real number times i.

So what is a real number, and what is i?

Well, the real numbers are all the positive numbers, negative numbers, and zero. These are numbers like

• 5
  -2.9
  -4/3
  0
  1.11211211111221312211131122211113213211...
  (bonus points if you can tell us
  what the next few digits are and why!)

So the real numbers are the numbers that you probably already know: they're the ones on the number line.

What is i? It's the square root of -1 (see footnote below). And it's NOT a real number. i was invented because people wanted to be able to take square roots of negative numbers, and you can't do that if you limit yourself to real numbers.

So we can make an imaginary number by taking a real number like 5 and multiplying it by i. That gives us 5i. Some other imaginary numbers are

• 37.3i
  1.11211211111221312211131122211113213211i
  Pi*i.

Note that the square of any imaginary number (except 0) is a negative number. Complex numbers are numbers like 7 + .4i; they're a real number plus an imaginary number.

[Labarum]

Re: i j

Just wondered if my few extra pounds could be rotated into an imaginary component.

Anybody know how to phase-shift fat?

[bilowi]

Re: i j

That would be great.

[Labarum]

Re: i j

And this is a better explanation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_numbers

[bilowi]

Re: i j

Thanks.

[Labarum]

Re: i j

Don't mention it. I'm just a simple minded Theologian.

[Labarum]

Re: i j

Come on then, Kent.

How do I transform my 202lb into 195 + 7j lb ?

Without any giroscopic or power factor problems, of course.

Let me rephrase that

How do I transform my 91.6256587 Kg

into

88.4505122 + 3.17514659j Kg ?

Cos I'm a Brit and I can't do engineering problems in feet and pounds.

[Jacksuncle]

Re: i j

If my imaginary friend tells me her phone number does that make them imaginary numbers?

[Kent]

Re: i j

Come on then, Kent.

How do I transform my 202lb into 195 + 7j lb ?

Without any giroscopic or power factor problems, of course.

Simple, just have most of your body enter an event horizon of a blackhole. There will be a point in time where you will weigh whatever you want infinite or nothing. Of course, you'll be dead, but such is the price for weight loss.

[Lady_Hawke]

Re: i j

If my imaginary friend tells me her phone number does that make them imaginary numbers?

yes.
but since you can call your imaginary friend with her imaginary phone number and have an imaginary conversation
I'd say you have a good imaginary-ation

[Labarum]

Re: i j

Simple, just have most of your body enter an event horizon of a blackhole. There will be a point in time where you will weigh whatever you want infinite or nothing. Of course, you'll be dead, but such is the price for weight loss.

No, no,no, no, Kent. You have not grasped this at all.

What I need to do is to move part of my mass into an alternate reality.

I ain't going nowhere near any black hole.

And don't try and tell me the better approach would be through the manipulation of gravity waves, because if I simply modify the gravitational forces around me I may weigh less, but my mass will not have changed. No, as I said, a way needs to be found to translate a proportion of my mass into a dimension between the fifth and the eleventh.

Do you think the solution lies in String Theory?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

But, as I said, I am just a simple minded Theologian.

[cmcole]

Re: i j

If you discover how to displace your mass, can you let me know how to move it from one location to another on my body (from a non-desirable location to one I would prefer)?

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: i j

Simple, just have most of your body enter an event horizon of a blackhole. There will be a point in time where you will weigh whatever you want infinite or nothing. Of course, you'll be dead, but such is the price for weight loss.

[ladyinred]

Re: i j

You lost me at "hello".