%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |    Not for the faint of art. |
|
Complex Numbers A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number. The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi. Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary. Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty. ![Merit Badge in Quill Award
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning Best Blog in the 2021 edition of [Link To Item #quills] !](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quill_Award-1375927_6.gif) ![Merit Badge in Quill Award 2
[Click For More Info]
2022 Quill Award - Best Blog - [Link To Item #1196512] . Congratulations!!!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quill_Award_2-1375927_6.gif) ![Merit Badge in 30DBC Winner
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning the Jan. 2019 [Link To Item #30dbc] !!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-30DBC_Winner-2064535_14.gif) ![Merit Badge in Blogging
[Click For More Info]
Congratulations on winning an honorable mention for Best Blog at the 2018 Quill Awards for [Link To Item #1196512] . *^*Smile*^* This award was sponsored by the blogging consortium including [Link To Item #30dbc] , [Link To Item #blogcity] , [Link To Item #bcof] and [Link To Item #1953629] . For more details, see [Link To Item #quills] .](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Blogging-2180.gif) ![Merit Badge in Highly Recommended
[Click For More Info]
I highly recommend your blog.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-Highly_Recommended.gif) ![Merit Badge in Opinion
[Click For More Info]
For diving into the prompts for Journalistic Intentions- thanks for joining the fun!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/genre-Opinion-1150.gif) ![Merit Badge in High Five
[Click For More Info]
For your inventive entries in [Link To Item #2213121] ! Thanks for the great read!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/Kudos-High_Five.gif) ![Merit Badge in Enlightening
[Click For More Info]
For winning 3rd Place in [Link To Item #2213121] . Congratulations!](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/general-Enlightening.gif) ![Merit Badge in Quarks Bar
[Click For More Info]
For your awesome Klingon Bloodwine recipe from [Link to Book Entry #1016079] that deserves to be on the topmost shelf at Quark's.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Quarks_Bar-2046190_12.gif)       |
| “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” -Ernest Hemingway What are your thoughts on this quote by a writer many consider a master? Who are some other writers you admire or consider masters? There's a joke floating out there somewhere that riffs on the old "Why did the chicken cross the road?" riddle. One of the answers is: Ernest Hemingway: "To die. In the rain." One of the first things I noticed about Hemingway when I was forced to read him (and make no mistake, I had to be forced) was the forcefulness and brevity of his words. The chicken joke is spot on in that regard. I mean, look at the title of "The Old Man and the Sea." Six words, each one syllable, each exactly three letters, and it perfectly sums up the book. Too bad the rest of the book is the equivalent of watching grass grow. I mean, would it be as popular a book to torture high school students with if the title had been something like "A Senior Citizen Attempts to Catch a Fucking Marlin?" In fact, Hemingway's bluntness is so infamous that I have to doubt the above quote can actually be ascribed to him. I mean, "apprentices" is four syllables, which is three more than he prefers to elucidate. Look, here's the thing: I'm not a fan of "literature." About the only classic author I can stomach is Mark Twain. That guy is still freakin' hilarious after more than a century. I mean, just feast your eyes upon this utter smackdown of James Fenimore Cooper (as well as his fans), first penned in 1895: http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/projects/rissetto/offense.html It seems to me that it was far from right for the Professor of English Literature at Yale, the Professor of English Literature in Columbia, and Wilkie Collins to deliver opinions on Cooper's literature without having read some of it. It would have been much more decorous to keep silent and let persons talk who have read Cooper. Cooper's art has some defects. In one place in "Deerslayer," and in the restricted space of two-thirds of a page, Cooper has scored 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record. No, seriously, I'm not kidding. Go read the whole thing. It's pretty short, and it's worth reading every word. Though it takes me twice as long to read it as it probably should, because it cracks me right up every single time. That said, whoever penned that quote up top attributed to Hemingway (and I am willing to admit, grudgingly, that it might have been actually Hemingway) did get it right, in my opinion: There is no writer so great that he or she cannot improve. At some point, though, it becomes a matter of personal taste. No amount of convincing will get me to believe, for instance, that James Joyce was anything other than the literary equivalent of Jackson Pollack: splattering words around his paper canvas like bright paint, their arrangement so random that people see what patterns they want to see in it. At least with Pollack, I can glance at a splatter painting for a brief moment, utter a dismissive "Bah!" and move on. Reading takes actual time. But I digress. Point is, I'd rather read a good comic book than slog through another neurotic "literary" excrementation. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
