What are complex numbers and their practical applications?
In: Mathematics
Complex numbers are an expansion on the “regular” numbers, also called real numbers.
Remember when you, as a kid, were introduced to negative numbers, or decimals? They might have seemed weird at first, but once you got used to them they turned out to be really helpful. Now, you could answet queations like “What number is five less than two?”, “What if the temperature outside is 10 degrees and it drops by ten?” or “How much will everyone get if five people share 8 cookies equally?”
Complex numbers, which are very unfortunately named because they aren’t that complex and just as real as the real numbers, is sort of the same thing. You can think of it as adding another dimension to the number, perpendicular to the forwards-backwards way we usually count. Instead of just going back and forth on our regular old number line, we can also go back and forth on what is called an imaginary number line. That one also has a really bad name, because it is just as real as the real number line…
Complex numbers are immensely helpful for calculations including a wide range of topics, including but definitely not limited to quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, or just regular old newtonian mechanics.
By expanding the math we already have with complex numbers, initially making it slightly more complicated, we simplify a lot of later calculations!
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