Complex Numbers (Book)

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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.

http://www.ddewey.net/mandelbrot/

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10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

🌝 HuntersMoon

Sep 20, 2025 at 12:12am
In response to "Numbers End"

Boy, am I behind thee times. I thought you just put this on hiatus. Of course, in March I wasn't a complete devotee of your brilliance yet.

I'm more than happy with Carrion Luggage, however.

1 Like

Elisa, Snowman Stik

May 1, 2025 at 7:09pm
In response to "Shhhhhhh"

Anytime I hear/read about the Quiet Zone, I am always reminded of this video.

TJ says, "keep on keeping on!"

Mar 12, 2025 at 8:16pm
In response to "Penultimatum"

As my Grandmother used to say, "Everything changes except that which stays the same." I never did understand why she said it, but it sounds good.

1 Like

TJ says, "keep on keeping on!"

Mar 12, 2025 at 8:13pm
In response to "Numbers End"

Looking forward to the new book and hoping you don't encounter a meteor.

1 Like

Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008

Mar 12, 2025 at 4:19pm
In response to "Numbers End"

Sorry this one is closing..I will look for the new one tomorrow! Looking forward to it.

2 Like

Aiva Raine

Mar 12, 2025 at 3:45pm
In response to "Numbers End"

Thanks for a great 3000 entries.

Looking forward to the new blog, whatever it might be.

2 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 12, 2025 at 1:36pm
In response to "Numbers End"

OK. What have you done with the real Robert Waltz?

Also, for the scientist engineer in me, have you actually tried to make entry 3001 and been rejected. Until there's proof, it's not real.

Thank you for your indulgence and sharing of wisdom.

R.I.P. "Complex Numbers"

3 Like

Anni Pon

Mar 12, 2025 at 11:20am
In response to "Numbers End"

Sorry that this one is coming to an end, but I'm excited to see what you have in store for the new one!

2 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

Mar 11, 2025 at 1:42pm
In response to "Penultimatum"

It's been an enlightening run. We wish you well in your next adventure.

It will be interesting to see if after the next entry that WDC actually does stop you from adding another.

We're all waiting on pens and pencils for the unveiling of the new blog and to discover what it will be called.

1 Like

BIG BAD WOLF is Merry

Mar 11, 2025 at 10:46am
In response to "Penultimatum"

I'm reminded of this scene from The Princess Bride.

(Vizzini has just cut the rope The Dread Pirate Roberts is climbing up)
Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

3 Like

February 8, 2009 at 7:45pm

#634776

Appendices

7. I've had my appendix removed.

In early May, 2002, I developed what I thought was food poisoning due to Red Lobsteritis.

My first sign that something was very, very wrong was when I threw up. I'd had food poisoning before, and it was always bad, but the last time I'd thrown up was the first time I'd overindulged in beer, nearly 20 years earlier. Actually, it wasn't beer, but that pale amber swill that passes for beer when you're in your teens - Milwaukee's Best, it was. The Beast, we called it.

That's the root of my beer snobbery.

This time, though - when I finally got to the hospital, they told me I was just in time, it was about to rupture Any Minute Now, and they'd schedule me for surgery "right away." "Right away" turned out to be about 12 hours later, which, combined with the previous 12 hours, was easily the most miserable single day of my life. The one good thing that came from that day was that, in order to distract my mind from the unending agony, I worked out a method to convert any decimal number to binary using only my fingers (larger numbers require toes, too) in my head. Surprisingly, I remembered the technique afterward, though I've never been able to put it to practical use, seeing as how I have computers and calculators for that kind of crap.

They said laparoscopic surgery would be "easier" on me. What they meant was that it would allow the hospital to discharge me faster. I still couldn't stand up or lie down on my own.

In "Lost," which we've been picking up from Netflix, one of the major characters has to have his appendix removed on the island, using primitive surgical techniques. The next day, he's up and doing heroics.

Don't you fucking believe it.

I did get one decent funny story out of the ordeal, which I had to delve into the musty depths of my previous blog to recover:

"The Snake Story"

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