/sci/ - Science & Math

can you fucking search or think b4 you ask

It's when you say that your dick is 21 cm on the Internet.

>>4687077

>>4687082
Don't even humour him.

I agree, he could search... But give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he's asking sort of philosophically, "What is an imaginary number?"

It's kind of a good question. It's basically just a case of a poor choice of name, OP. There's nothing "imaginary" about them. The real numbers aren't closed under the square root operation, because there's no answer to the question "What's the square root of -1?" To answer that, you have to bring in "complex numbers (better name).

It just happens that a lot of things in physics behave according to complex numbers, like quantum mechanics. So they're useful.

>>4687077
>implying 21 cm is big

The "imaginary" part of a complex number. They're not really imaginary. See wikipedia for complex numbers to make sense of all this.

Try this out:

You know the Fibonacci sequence? Add together the previous two numbers in the sequence, and you get the next term:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ...

With different starting conditions we get a pattern with the simple formula:
<div class="math">1, \phi, \phi^2, \phi^3, \phi^4, \ldots</div>where <span class="math">\phi = \displaystyle \frac{1 + \sqrt 5}2[/spoiler], the "golden ratio." You can check that this satisfies the same rule. If you look for sequences of the form
<div class="math">1, x, x^2, x^3, x^4, \ldots</div>obeying the rule, you should find a second solution. It turns out that the Fibonacci sequence is a combination of the two:
<div class="math">0 = \frac{1 - 1}{\sqrt5},\quad
1 = \frac{\phi - x}{\sqrt5},\quad
1 = \frac{\phi^2 - x^2}{\sqrt5},\quad
2 = \frac{\phi^3 - x^3}{\sqrt5},\quad\ldots</div>Now what happens if you take the last two numbers in the sequence, and instead of adding, you take the second and subtract the first? Like this:

0, 1, 1, 0, -1, ...

Is there a formula for this sequence like there is for the Fibonacci numbers?

numbers that dont exist

>>4687160
You tell me.

>>4687063
Mathematicians use i for the square root of -1.
Normally you can not square root a negative number so they say this is an imaginary number.
They can still be used for things in mathematics though.

>>4687160
MOAR

>>4687151
It is. It is not enormous, but it is significantly larger than average.
Also, lrn2measure correctly; on the top side. Everyone has a 21 cm penis when measuring the bottom side.

>>4687234
What is the average?

>>4687237
Lrn2wolfram alpha
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=penis+length
>15.1 cm

>>4687242
I did not know it could be used for that, I thought it was just for maths.

>>4687163
Like negative numbers?

>>4687244
15.1 is a number
Also, average Turkish penis: 12.7 cm.
No wonder they need the Islam to surpress their women. They need to compensate about a quarter of a decimeter.

>>4687247
The square roots of negative numbers.

ok... why don't we have square roots of negative numbers?

>>4687248
It varies by geographic location?
Which country has the highest average?

>>4687251
we do with i (note that only i²=-1 never i= sqrt(-1) )

other options do not solve the problem x² = -1

>>4687251
We do have them on the complex plane.

>>4687252
I recal a survey where France was the largest. But in that survey, france had 15.9, and the world average was only 14.3 in that one.
Anyway, turks have a bigger nose, more backhair. If they are different in those physical characteristics, why not in penis size?
Not to mention other races of people.

>>4687251
Because it turns out that square a positive or a negative real number, you always end up with a positive number. So we use imaginary numbers such that <span class="math">i²=-1[/spoiler]
Complex numbers are numbers made of real and imaginary numbers.

Something to do with the realm of the bizarre, for sure.
I'm trying to upload a pic of the Mandelbrot but it won't let me

Are complex numbers useful for any situation where they wont just be squared anyway

>>4687264
electrical engineering

>>4687265
Really? I could've sworn the imaginary numbers cancelled each other out at the end.

>>4687266
They do in quadratics.
It depends what you use them for.

>>4687266
you can model phase of an AC current using the argument of the complex numbers. if they were real argument would always be 0 or pi

they are importan for oscillation equations where x(t)=x_0 * e^(iat)

>>4687264

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_number#Applications

>>4687267
No, they don't.

>>4687267
nope

>>4687267
stick to topics you know about. know your place.

>>4687481
That is only one use for them. There are others. See >>4687417

>>4687483
just stop posting

>>4687499
Hey, stop harassing my waifu.

>>4687504
Your waifu is a useless piece of shit. My waifu (EK) is far superior.

>>4687506
At least my waifu has only a countable number of "fuck buddies".

>>4687514
My waifu can do things your waifu couldn't even dream of in her darkest nightmare.

Stop talking about EK and I.

>>4687517
Like what? Like getting banned for inane trolling garbage?

>>4687518
/sci/ is for discussing EK, if you don't like it, leave.

>>4687519
You will never know, because your waifu is a prudish novice who would blush at the prospect of having sex with the lights on.

>>4687518
I'm defending you, hun.

>>4687522
She's too good for ordinary sex.

>>4687522
You should only be discussing EK in conjunction with Zoology.
Anything else is not science, and is pointless.

>>4687526
How do you explain the name of this board, then?

>>4687525
I guess if you want to rape her, go right ahead. Can't rape my waifu because she'd never say no to anyone. She has a heart of gold, you see.

>>4687537
Stop being disgusting. If you wish to discuss those sorts of things, go to /b or something.

>>4687542

Please leave /sci/ and never return to do us all a favor.
I knew there was a reason why I haven't bothered to visit this place in 2 months

>mfw mathfags are so desperate that they have to invent numbers to keep their "science" going

>>4687760

0/10

>>4687760
5/10

>>4687760
10/10

>>4687760

15/10

>>4687789
7i+920/10

Imaginary bump.

>>4689410
Unreal!

Graham's Number - Numberphile

Imaginary numbers are a rotation from the real line.

>>4687248
>12.7cm

So, let me get this straight.

We can't get the square root of a negative number with math, but it still somehow has practical applications? I thought math was derived from nature in a sense, right?. How can we just make shit up that doesn't work... and it works?

My head.

>>4687760
i²/10

>>4689642
It goes like this. God invented physics. We don't entirely understand how physics works, but apparently there are physical processes which are computations on natural numbers. Man used those natural numbers to create things like real and complex numbers so he could try to understand physics. It seems to work, and that's all he can know.

inb4 idiots accuse me of believing in god

>>4689701
Bro, even Einstein believed in God. So fucking what? Believe what you want.

>>4689976
This is 4chan, anon is not usually very rational.

>>4689552

This.
The imaginary numbers are another number line perpendicular to the the normal one.

>>4689976
God doesn't have anything do do with this.
http://www.google.com/search?q=god+made+the+integers+all+else+is+the+work+of+man