[ExI] new entry from symphony of science

[Adrian Tymes]

2010/11/24 Darren Greer <darren.greer3 at gmail.com>

> Would anyone here care to  answer a question about imaginary numbers from
> this liberal arts major who is now neck deep in his first year of a
> post-secondary science and mathematics education? I'm having trouble
> understanding how the square root of negative one could have a practical
> application beyond abstract mathematics. Or even in abstract mathematics,
> for that matter. I understand the concept as well as I'm being asked too,
> and can tease it out of a complex number and solve the equation around it.
>  But we haven't got to a place where anyone is actually saying what I'm
> going to use it for. I know we'll get there, but the suspense is killing me.
> And the explanations on the Internet are assuming a knowledge I don't have
> yet. Any takers? Remember. Key words: FIRST YEAR. An engineer might be good
> here. Spike?
>

One real world application I know of is for reducing certain kinds of two
dimensional
data to a single number, for instance when trying to analyze electronic
properties
where you have alternating current that alternates at a certain frequency
and has a
certain amplitude.  This is known as "phasors" - not as in directed energy
weapons,
though they can stun (and they can be used to describe some directed energy
weapons).  See http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~aey/eecs206/lectures/phasor.pdffor
an overview.
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