Imaginary unit
The actual definition of the imaginary unit i is
It is a square with a negative value. We do not understand what this means, but you can make computations with it.
Explanation
Formally you can define i as the square root of –1 , so
whatever that may be. This definition is clearly outdated, but is still used in school-books. You never see
as i has no real value.
Example 1
By coincedence, the result of the calculation
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is correct, but is wrong, as you treat i like a real value, what it is not. Moreover, parentheses must be solved from inside to outside.
HistoryThe Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707 - 1783) used the letter i for the imaginary unit. |