Imaginary numbers have the worst name.

I agree, because really all numbers are imaginary. Numbers are also wonderfully useful for describing nature, and it’s amazing how what might start as a quest for completeness and elegance ends up reflecting something about the real world. Each extension on our use of numbers is an augmentation, an extended toolkit to solve different problems, but doesn’t negate anything which went earlier. For example finding the roots of a polynomial often represents a problem where complex solutions aren’t applicable, and “no solution” is the more meaningful result. One kind of mathematics may be bigger and more complete than another, but that doesn’t make it better or more true. It just depends on what you need from it.

The other fields are attempting to describe reality. While Newtonian physics is useful, as an approximation, it’s also quite clearly wrong. You can imagine a universe which follows those rules but it’s not this universe, and that’s why it’s wrong. Mathematics doesn’t care about this universe, so you can pick whatever rules you want. Imaginary numbers are not “more accurate”, they don’t invalidate any previous understanding. They are an imaginary concept with interesting properties. For mathematics, that’s enough.

The answer to that question didn’t change, what changed is how you might interpret the question.

If I asked “what are the REAL roots of x² + 2x + 2” the answer is still “none”. And prior to imaginary numbers being widely used, that is how the question would have been understood.

Mathematics involves making choices about what set of rules we’re working with. If you don’t allow the concept of negative numbers, the equation “x+1=0” has no solution. If you give me an apple, then I have no apples, how many apples did I have before? The question describes an impossible situation, and that’s a perfectly valid way to view it.

Different sets of rules can change what’s possible but don’t invalidate conclusions based on other sets of rules. We just need to specify what set of rules we’re working with.

When enclosed in parentheses I believe the correct term is “bolt-ons”

“Grandpa, why is your dick out?”

“Well, to answer that we have to go back to 2016…”

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

They don’t think it be like it is,

But it do.

My PC had been running like shit for a while and I was already weighing up options for replacing it, when I got the popup message from MS about Windows 10 expiring, and how my only option was to dump the PC. So I installed Linux out of pure spite. Runs like a dream now. Thanks MS!

“These thoughts are too useful to just stay in my head, I’m going out to get some sticky letters so I can spread the message to the world”

Put da cupcakes in da oven. I’ll be back in 10-15 minutes

Killing one of your friends might not be the optimal solution.

But one of your friends might think it is.

If the day started at 1:00 then by the second hour you would be at 2:00, even though only 1 hour has passed.

When the second day of the month starts, the day of the month is 2, even though only 1 day has passed.

I mean, numerically it does make sense to start at zero but it doesn’t seem to correspond to the way people think and talk.

I guess it just works better when you can tell which character is which

ikr? It’s like some people don’t even recognize a tetrahedron

I find it weird that there is this whole conversation about new/experienced users, and it’s perhaps a problematic thing with Linux. Many people, myself included, don’t give 2 shits about how their OS works. I don’t want to spend my time tending to it as if it were a fucking garden. I just need it to work, so I can get on with my own stuff. No matter how “experienced” I get, that’s always going to be the case. Maybe I’m just a little traumatized about this because the first Linux distro I used was Gentoo.

Yay, now when your coworkers suggest getting some sushi and you use your laptop to look up the nearest restaurant, you’re going to get a paperclip pop up saying “It looks like you’re trying to get back to that tentacle porn hentai you nutted to last night. Would you like help with jerking off?”

Bacon is always lit