What is an imaginary number?

The imaginary number is a mathematical term for a number whose square is a negative real number. Imaginary numbers are represented by the letter i , which means the second root -1. This definition can be represented by an equation: i 2 = -1 . Any imaginary number can be represented using i . For example, the square root -4 is 2 i .

When the imaginary numbers were first defined by Rafael Bombelli in 1572, mathematicians believed that they actually did not exist, hence their name. Decartes created the term imaginary with reference to these figures in his book 1637, La geometry . However, imaginary numbers are as real as any other numbers and the mathematical community and the world are gradually accepted. The work of mathematicians Leonhard Euler and Carl Friedrich Gauss in the 18th and 19th centuries was helpful in this change.

While imaginary numbers are the average "real world" of most individuals are necessary in tAKO areas such as quantum drive, electrical engineering, computer programming, signal processing and cartography. From the perspective, consider that negative numbers were also once considered fictitious and that such terms such as fractions and square roots could be considered insignificant to a person who does not need them in everyday life, even if they are quite real for others.

To better understand the imaginary number, geometry can be useful. Figure Standard number: Zero is in the center, positive numbers to the right of zero and negative numbers are found on the left. At zero point, visualize another line perpendicular to the first, stretching up and down rather than right and left. This is an axis of imaginary numbers, also known as the axis y in geometry, while the "standard line number" is the x axis. Positive imaginary numbers spread from zero point and negaThe tough imaginary numbers spread. Zero is the only number that is considered both real and imaginary.

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