Search where?

This Portfolio (cathartes02)

All of Writing.Com

◄ November ► 2020
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30
Archive				RSS

Offsite Blogs

· Waltz Travel Blog

Create New Item

Read & Review

Community

Browse By Type

Browse By Genre

Writing Resources

Monday, May. 20, 2024

7:51am EDT

Members: 798

Guests: 930

Total Online: 1,728

Complex Numbers

by Robert Waltz

Rated: 18+ · Book · Personal · #1196512

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.

http://www.ddewey.net/mandelbrot/

Signature for Honorable Mentions in 2018 Quill Awards

A signature for exclusive use of winners at the 2019 Quill Awards

Signature for those who have won a Quill Award at the 2020 Quill Awards

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Aiva Raine

May 17, 2024 at 6:57pm
In response to "Knead Some Dough?"

I grew up on mostly Wonder Bread despite our family having a large dry farm (dry farm being a farm that grows wheat and barley and safflower without irrigation- it relies solely upon mother nature to rain). I was never fond of it and looked forward to the times my mom would laboriously mill and grind the grain we brought back during harvest into flour and make home-made wheat bread. There was and still is nothing better than fresh whole wheat bread with a little butter and honey.

I think we did the Wonder Bread because my mom wasn't a fan of cooking and making bread is a time-consuming process.

I quit doing the white bread decades ago. There are so many kinds of healthy, no HFCS, etc whole grain breads out there that are delicious that I have no idea why any adult would choose the crappy Wonder Bread.

1 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

May 13, 2024 at 1:18pm
In response to "The Breakfast and the Breakfurious"

And for those who rather not read the Smithsonian article, the History Channel episode that covers Pop Tarts (if you have a cable TV account):

https://www.history.com/shows/the-food-that-built-america/season-4/episode-1

Annette

May 10, 2024 at 12:05pm
In response to "Meditation Clause"

Everytime a stranger asks me to close my eyes, I keep my eyes open to see what they are up to.
Meditation is not for me.

But I think most people would have 45 minutes every day if they took that time away from social media or TV watching.

2 Like

Wordsmitty ✍️

May 9, 2024 at 1:15pm
In response to "Super Stew?"

But . . .

What's the difference between one being in the soup or in a stew? Is one thinner or thicker? How do writers use soup and stew?

1 Like

Elisa the Bunny Stik

May 9, 2024 at 10:11am
In response to "Super Stew?"

"Served in a pot? Maybe in your country."

Honestly, in the US I'd think soup would be served in a pot due to the quantity that ends up being consumed.

1 Like

Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008

May 8, 2024 at 3:02pm
In response to "Be Positive"

Mine always tell me to eat more fruits and veggies.

Annette

May 8, 2024 at 10:52am
In response to "Be Positive"

Asking doctors for advice has its own pitfalls. Because there is no money in recommending a sensible nutrition pattern, they will say things like: Look it up online.

2 Like

🌕 HuntersMoon

May 5, 2024 at 8:50am
In response to "Revisited: "Fail""

Shame on you for making fun of the Hoggs. Being a Virginian, Bob, you should know the reverence that the name Hog inspires recalling the glory days of the Washington Redskins (now the Commanders). The Hogs

1 Like

Charity Marie - <3

May 4, 2024 at 5:42pm
In response to "Overdraft Dodgers"

I have four different accounts and each one has a purpose. Savings, personal debit card, auto draft debit card, and a b8lls account. The bills account is the only one that can overdraft as it's for manual big bills like rent, cell, electric, etc. Stuff that mist be paid. The rest are blocked from overdraft and the savings account has no debit card attached. My bank accounts have been hacked too many times so I keep it this way to protect myself. It is very rare I ever pay an overdraft. I have a money market account for money greater than $10K so it gains interest and isn't touched except emergencies. That is a secure account too.

1 Like

Kåre Enga in Montana

May 3, 2024 at 4:23pm
In response to "It's a Crime"

Thailand versus Montana versus New York versus Costa Rica.

Theft? Not in Thailand! Not a huge concern in Missoula, perhaps in NYC, definitely an issue in Costa Rica.

Violence? Not a huge concern in Thailand. More so in MT, NY and CR (where it wasn't a concern years ago), definitely a problem in Saint Louis and the US in general. El Salvador is known for violence.

Death by vehicle. Not a huge concern in either NY or MT. A rising problem in Costa Rica. Thailand is one of the worst places in the world in this respect.

You may be shot and killed in parts of the US but you're more likely to be run-over in Thailand.

1 Like

November 1, 2020 at 12:02am

#997330

Happy Now?

Well, it's November now. Which means another round of 30DBC for me.

PROMPT November 1st

Write about something you want. Pick something that you don’t necessarily need, but would make you happy simply to have.

The first thing that comes to mind is a vaccine for... you know.

Not just for me, of course. I'm selfish, but I'm not that selfish. There are a lot of people suffering from this, both by having it and by having friends and family go through it, not to mention lost jobs and broken social networks. I'm fortunate for many reasons, but one of them is that no one I know in real life is sick... but then, I don't know too many people in real life anymore.

For myself, it might mean being able to travel again. I don't know if the foray I made to Alexandria last week was a good thing or not. I mean, I had a good time overall (except for that goddamned broken vending machine), but in a way, that just makes it worse. Winter is coming, as the saying goes, and with it an end to being able to sit on a patio and dine and drink beer in relative safety. More people congregating indoors, masked or not, means more chances for getting sick. I'm probably going to have to go back into hermit mode for a few months, which does not make me happy.

Whether travel in itself would make me "happy" or not is an open question, though.

I pretty much have everything I need and most of what I want (that flying car continues to elude me), and I'm self-aware enough to know that "stuff" doesn't make me happy; at best, it relieves the tedium of day-to-day existence. Hell, at this point, it might make me happier to dispose of a good bit of "stuff." Not to the point of going all minimalist or anything, but stuff does tend to accumulate.

But I don't think of happiness as a goal to strive for. I mean, sure, there's that line in the Declaration of Independence, that pesky "pursuit of happiness" thing, but I have other motivations. Besides, I'm pretty sure that the word had different connotations

250 years ago. I find that happiness is elusive in pursuit of it for its own sake; rather, it's a byproduct of other activities.

And I'm pretty simple, when it comes down to it. A good beer, some good music, a good book (all, of course, dependent upon my own subjective determination of "good") will do it. As will a few other things, like after I'm sick or in pain and suddenly I realize that I'm not; it's really my baseline physiological state, but feeling bad just emphasizes how good feeling ordinary is.

Hell, I don't even like the word. "Happy." It comes from the same Old English root as the word "happen." As in, I see it as something that happens to you, like winning the lottery (which might or might not make one happy). "Hap," apparently, did have the denotation of luck or fortune - both good and bad. The two French words I know for the equivalent concept are: content(e) and heureu(x/se) -- the latter of which also has connotations of good luck or fortune, and the former of which it's so far impossible for me to read without thinking of the equivalent word in English, which is not exactly a synonym for "happy," but connotes (to me, anyway) a more general, less exuberant feeling of wellness.

So I don't know if owning a flying car would actually make me happy or not, but I'm willing to take the chance.

13 Like • Comment • View 10 comments

© Copyright 2024 Robert Waltz (UN: cathartes02 at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Robert Waltz has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.

Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/profile/blog/cathartes02/day/11-1-2020