![]() Rene Descartes set a standard form for complex numbers, but he still wasn’t too fond of them. He solves an equation with an imaginary number, but he says, “ are as subtle as they would be useless.” About them, and most others agreed with him until 1637. ![]() In 1545 Girolamo Cardono writes a book titled Ars Magna. In the early fifteenth century speculations would rise again as higher degree polynomial equations were being worked out, but for the most part negative square roots would just be avoided. Attempts to find a solution for a negative square root wouldn’t reignite till the discovery of negative numbers, and even this would lead to the belief that it was impossible. The equation he eventually deemed impossible was the sqrt(81-114). ![]() He was attempting to solve the section of a pyramid. The first point of contact with imaginary numbers is attributed to Heron of Alexandria around the year 50 A.D. How did people’s conception of this topic change over time? All the while the video provides the definition as well. At the same time it satirically exaggerates the difficulty, and therefore might challenge the students. It conveys that these concepts can be difficult in a more light-hearted sense. This video can be used as a humorous introduction that only takes a few seconds. No wait now I-“, and then his head also explodes. One student turns to him and says, “I don’t get it. Upon the instructor’s completion of his definition of the imaginary number, one student, who understands the definition, immediately has his head explode. Robot chicken aired a television episode in which students were being taught about the imaginary number.
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