Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Imaginary numbers push the boundaries of calculus and other branches of math. Hill Street Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images ...

Mathematicians were disturbed, centuries ago, to find that calculating the properties of certain curves demanded the seemingly impossible: numbers that, when multiplied by themselves, turn negative.

As any algebra student is likely to ask a teacher, "Who ever uses complex numbers anyway?" The obvious answer, of course, is "math teachers." But that's just the beginning. Most scientists 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 ...

If you have ever read advanced textbooks or papers about electronics, you may have been surprised to see the use of complex numbers used in the analysis of AC circuits. A complex number has two parts: ...

Engineering involves a lot of math. And engineers sometimes get so involved in manipulating numbers that they forget some of the principles underlying the numerical manipulations they take for granted ...

In this video series, I will show you how to divide complex numbers. We do this by eliminating the imaginary number in the denominator by producing equivalent fractions. We do this by multiplying by \ ...

The world of math is complex … in more ways than one. Sure, it’s full of complex ideas that are all tied up and packaged within beautiful and often times complex wrapping paper that is adorned with ...

Many people have been taught that "$${\sqrt{-1}}$$ cannot be calculated."However, to be more precise, this means "there is no answer within the range of real numbers." If we expand the world of ...

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, ...