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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

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

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008

16 minutes ago
In response to "Revisited: "Exercise""

I will be 75 in July. My stepdaughter gave me a bike because I wanted to ride it again. Well, I started off shaky and stayed shaky...then I fell off it...A passing motorist stopped to help me get up...I have NOT been back on that bike and will not ever again.

🌕 HuntersMoon

about 4 hours ago
In response to "Revisited: "Exercise""

So, you're saying that now you pedal your ass differently?

Elisa the Bunny Stik

a day ago
In response to "Pleasure and Pain"

it illustrates why it's important to have people from different backgrounds, with different worldviews, working on scientific research.

This right here is why I get rather irritated by people poo-pooing college these days. I feel like that attitude effectively shits on minority populations that may not have strong finances but do possess persistent curiosity and want to learn about various subjects in-depth. In the 90s, these groups were exclusively told to go to trade schools even if they had the aptitude for college education. Nowadays the blanket "Everyone should consider a trade" mantra employs a more subtle (but still abundant) form of discrimination. I'm so over it.

1 Like

Kåre Enga in Udon Thani

Apr 25, 2024 at 3:16am
In response to "Going to the Dogs"

I have ants in Thailand. Will I miss them in Montana? No.

Would it be nice to have a cat and a dog, here or there? Yes, but I have struggles keeping my neglected plants alive.

Not every situation is suitable for everything or everybody.

Kåre Enga in Udon Thani

Apr 25, 2024 at 3:09am
In response to "Tipped Out"

I don't tip. In my travels I rarely find tipping the norm.

I also don't haggle.

When you add the tip... the true cost of America becomes evident. But what would I know? I travel while others who have double my income can't pay rent.

Kåre Enga in Udon Thani

Apr 25, 2024 at 2:58am
In response to "Reality Cubed"

My dreams may be different from your dreams but if we share them with others then some form of the dream may live on. Regardless, if we don't eat we die. "Joy gives us wings." "Reality bites."

Aiva Raine

Apr 24, 2024 at 4:26pm
In response to "Tipped Out"

Agreed. I'll tip and well, for actual waitstaff at restaurants. I'll tip appropriately for bell-staff who assists with luggage at hotels, the more luggage, the bigger the tip. I'll give a tip to the valet as well. Beyond that- I don't tip. Certainly no tip for the fast food workers, coffee baristas, grocery store clerks, etc.

It annoys me to no end that we're being asked to tip for all kinds of jobs where they are being paid an hourly wage. I've worked as a waitress when I was young and my daughter currently does. In those jobs- she absolutely depends upon proper tipping to make a decent wage. And I hate the fact that she is dependent upon tips to do so.

It leaves women especially at the mercy of arsh**() on whether she wants to accept hostile, negative, sexist, harassing, demeaning, and negative behavior from her customers in order to make a living. It condones people treating their waitstaff like shite in order to get paid. While there is much improvement from the 30 years ago when I was working as a waitress in the skimpy outfits we were forced to wear- it's still an issue at non-chain, independent owned restaurants and diners.

Women are left to the mercies of jerk customers and their only recourse is the manager who they have to hope supports their waitstaff rather than the jerk customer. Tipping should be eliminated. All employees should be paid a livable wage and waitstaff especially should not be dependent upon tolerating crappy to obscene behavior from customers in order to make a living.

But, until that happens- I always tip at least 20% and often times more. Very rarely have I tipped lower and the service in those situations was abysmal and they still got 10%.

1 Like

GeminiGem of House Lannister

Apr 23, 2024 at 6:51pm
In response to "Going to the Dogs"

I don't understand the intersection, either. I lived in a much smaller city and found that having dogs was a hassle (although it didn't stop me), what with the complainey neighbors, the extra licensing, etc. I live in a rural location now and it works great. I can't wrap my head around living in NYC with or without a dog, although I like the idea of a place that issues a canine and supplies upon moving there. Can that please be a thing?

1 Like

Lazy Writer est 4/24/2008

Apr 23, 2024 at 3:31pm
In response to "Going to the Dogs"

I love my little dog...but I live in a biggish house with a fenced backyard.

1 Like

Aennaytte: Free & Wild in GoT

Apr 23, 2024 at 3:14pm
In response to "That's Cole"

I knew and ate Kohlrabi before I ever heard of kale. Kohlrabi is so much better in every way.

That last quoted sentence is hilarious. I am glad that I wasn't bred to be a Brussels Sprout.

1 Like

November 25, 2021 at 12:02am

#1022273

Putting the Attitude Back in Gratitude

I have to admit I've been dreading this one all month.

PROMPT November 25^th

We all have something to be thankful about. In the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving today. Tell us what you are most thankful for.

It's not that I'm not thankful. It's that I have a visceral aversion to talking about it.

Even right now, it's difficult. I've written and then deleted several sentences already, because none of them seemed quite right to me.

And the temptation is definitely there to turn the prompt to something humorous. I'm going to go ahead and give in to that urge by linking to a special Thanksgiving poem I wrote a few years ago:

Alcohol, Hookers, and Blow

(18+)
A Thanksgiving thanks giving
#2175291 by Robert Waltz

Well. Now that that's out of the way, what am I actually most thankful for? Despite the poem's title and content, I've never been with a hooker or done blow (that's cocaine, for anyone not used to US slang). Alcohol, yes, sure, but is it really what I'm most thankful for?

I'm in a pretty good place in life. Not without problems, of course; everyone has problems. But overall, things are pretty good for me right now. There's a downside to that, though, which is that it gives me no incentive to try to improve my situation further, because any move I make to improve could backfire and make things worse. So while I'm thankful for all the beneficial things in my life, that wouldn't be the top of the list.

I suppose when it comes right down to it, the thing I'm most thankful for is existence itself. That may be a kind of cop-out -- after all, if I didn't exist, I wouldn't be here to experience gratitude. But I think that, by itself, is enough reason to be thankful. And it's not just my existence I'm talking about, either. No one can exist without reference to what's around them: air, water, sunlight, people, whatever.

I'm not doing anything for Thanksgiving this year. Well, not exactly. It's traditional to eat turkey, so I bought a frozen turkey pie to eat later. And nothing goes with turkey as perfectly as Beaujolais Nouveau, a delicious red wine that gets shipped here every year from France just in time for Thanksgiving (so thanks for that, France). So yeah, I'm going to be a cliché single person, eat the pie, and drink the bottle of wine. Probably while watching TV shows. Some might consider that pathetic. I do not. It is far less stressful than having to deal with other people.

After that, I'll go out to see a movie, because I can.

Existence? Maybe I spoke too soon. I think what I should be most thankful for is not having to abide by others' schedules and preferences. I get to do exactly what I want to today, not what other people think I should do.

And for that, I am truly grateful.

8 Like • Comment • View 6 comments

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