Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
An imaginary number is the product of a real number and the imaginary unit i, [note 1] which is defined by its property i 2 = −1. [1] [2] The square of an imaginary number bi is −b 2. For example, 5i is an imaginary number, and its square is −25. The number zero is considered to be both real and imaginary. [3]
A real number a can be regarded as a complex number a + 0i, whose imaginary part is 0. A purely imaginary number bi is a complex number 0 + bi, whose real part is zero. It is common to write a + 0i = a, 0 + bi = bi, and a + (−b)i = a − bi; for example, 3 + (−4)i = 3 − 4i.
L'Algebra by Rafael Bombelli: frontispiece of the Bologna edition of 1579. Rafael Bombelli (baptised on 20 January 1526; died 1572) [a] [1] [2] was an Italian mathematician.Born in Bologna, he is the author of a treatise on algebra and is a central figure in the understanding of imaginary numbers.
The imaginary unit i in the complex plane: Real numbers are conventionally drawn on the horizontal axis, and imaginary numbers on the vertical axis. The imaginary unit or unit imaginary number ( i ) is a mathematical constant that is a solution to the quadratic equation x 2 + 1 = 0.
In arithmetic, a complex-base system is a positional numeral system whose radix is an imaginary (proposed by Donald Knuth in 1955 [1] [2]) or complex number (proposed by S. Khmelnik in 1964 [3] and Walter F. Penney in 1965 [4] [5] [6]).
Hippasus is sometimes credited with the discovery of the existence of irrational numbers, following which he was drowned at sea. Pythagoreans preached that all numbers could be expressed as the ratio of integers, and the discovery of irrational numbers is said to have shocked them. However, the evidence linking the discovery to Hippasus is unclear.
In complex analysis, the complex numbers are customarily represented by the symbol z, which can be separated into its real (x) and imaginary (y) parts: z = x + i y {\displaystyle z=x+iy} for example: z = 4 + 5 i , where x and y are real numbers, and i is the imaginary unit .
"A base is a natural number B whose powers (B multiplied by itself some number of times) are specially designated within a numerical system." [1]: 38 The term is not equivalent to radix, as it applies to all numerical notation systems (not just positional ones with a radix) and most systems of spoken numbers. [1]