Theos-Talk Archives (January 1997 Message tl00114)

Bart Lidofsky:
>Mathematics is an entirely artificial system, and can be
>changed at will. In general, however, the change has to be
>useful in order for it to be widely accepted. The most
>recent major change in the laws of mathematics was the
>invention of imaginary numbers. 

That pesky "i".  It had to be invented because of things like having to
break down that square root of a negative to simplify the equation process.
I kept on forgetting it in my equations because after you extract it from
the square root, all it does is hang around.  It's an integral part of the
equation, and yet seem unimportant.  I lost quite a few quiz points because
of that.  I must have left it in my pocket.  I guess in that respect, the
"i" is like God nowadays.

TTT