Why does a number that shouldn't exist move this world?In high school math, you learn about the "number that becomes ...

Humanities scholar Lee Eun-soo, professor of philosophy at Seoul National University (left), and mathematician Lee Seung-jae, postdoctoral researcher at Seoul National University (right) Squaring 0 ...

Yes, those of us who studied mathematics and physics after high school are familiar with the values $${i = \sqrt{-1}}$$ and ...

Imaginary numbers might seem like unicorns and goblins — interesting but irrelevant to reality. But for describing matter at its roots, imaginary numbers turn out to be essential. They seem to be ...

Malcontent Wes popped into the comments of our recent post on the mathematical improbability of vampires with a link to a blog post with a great math-vampire analogy: vampires are the imaginary ...

To a nonmathematician, having the letter “i” represent a number that does not quite exist and is “imaginary” can be hard to wrap your head around. If you open your mind to this way of thinking, ...

Master Complex Numbers with Engaging Worksheets! Help your Algebra 2 students conquer multiplying complex numbers with this comprehensive set of worksheets! Perfect for Unit 2 on imaginary and complex ...

Have you ever sat in a math classroom and wondered, “When will I ever use this?” You might have asked yourself this question when you first encountered “imaginary” numbers, and with good reason: What ...

Visit NAP.edu/10766 to get more information about this book, to buy it in print, or to download it as a free PDF. §I.1 THIS BOOK IS A HISTORY OF ALGEBRA, written for the curious nonmathematician. It ...

§2.1 FROM EGYPT TO EGYPT: Diophantus, 15 the father of algebra, in whose honor I have named this chapter, lived in Alexandria, in Roman Egypt, in either the 1st, the 2nd, or the 3rd century CE. I ...