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Friday, Dec. 20, 2024

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Complex Numbers

by Waltz Invictus

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:

Annette

about 2 hours ago
In response to "To Err Is Human"

Comments work.

"Like" button sends me this message:

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Annette

about 2 hours ago
In response to "To Err Is Human"

Can I leave this comment?

Wordsmitty ✍️

about 18 hours ago
In response to "Five Seconds"

Way, way back when I was little, it was a three second rule that I remember. Sometime since it was upped to five seconds because of all the chemical preservatives that are pumped into everything now.

1 Like

tj-Merry Mischief Maker

about 24 hours ago
In response to "Five Seconds"

I also ate carrots right out of the garden growing up, I also picked and ate fruits and berries growing in the wild without washing. I do remember food dropped on the floor was either rinsed off and then eaten, or if it was something not easily rinsed, like buttered toast buttered side down, we gave it to the dog.

In our house, there's not a five second rule; unless it's something dogs can't eat, it's whichever one gets it first.

2 Like

🌖 HuntersMoon

a day ago
In response to "Five Seconds"

2 Like

Aiva Raine

Dec 17, 2024 at 7:39pm
In response to "Need for Speed"

Even with the actual explanation- it still left me going- sooooo what's the difference between the special expensive "speed tape" they use for "temporary fixes" and duct tape? LOL- sure sounds like duct tape to me and they are using it for exactly the same reasons you would use duct tape. I'm guessing that the only difference between it and duct tape is the "speed tape" is slightly stronger and handles temperature differences better. It still comes down holding the plane together with tape which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Especially if it's a Boeing plane.

1 Like

tj-Merry Mischief Maker

Dec 17, 2024 at 6:14pm
In response to "Need for Speed"

I suppose they call it speed tape to keep people calm. If they called it what it is, temporary repair tape, they may lose passengers.

2 Like

Waltz Invictus

Dec 17, 2024 at 9:43am
In response to "Need for Speed"

Ichabod Crane-- Mince Pie

, I've heard that speed tape is extremely expensive. I can only assume the maintenance guys at Delta got a five-finger discount. But if you're going to steal from work, might as well go big and not just lift a box of paper clips.

1 Like

Ichabod Crane-- Mince Pie

Dec 17, 2024 at 9:06am
In response to "Need for Speed"

One of the last jobs I had was with Delta. I did ask the maintanace guys about that tape once and they pointed out high speed will rip duct tape or any other tape right off. They used it personally for their boats sometimes because of its strength. But looking out a window at 400 miles an hour and 30 thousand feet up and see duct tape on the wing. Certainly made me nervous first time I saw it.

3 Like

tj-Merry Mischief Maker

Dec 16, 2024 at 3:46pm
In response to "Fork You Too"

Now that I know forks are the center of dining controversy, I'll have to apply this at all family gatherings where demon dining utensils are in use.

1 Like

December 20, 2024 at 10:25am

#1081341

To Err Is Human

Solstice tomorrow (around 4:20 am here), so this is my last entry of astronomical fall. Today's article, from BBC, has nothing to do with seasons, though, and it's a subject I really shouldn't be weighing in on—but of course, I'm going to do it anyway.

Humans may not have survived without Neanderthals

What inspired me to jump in above my head here was the lede:

Far from triumphantly breezing out of Africa, modern humans went extinct many times before going on to populate the world, new studies have revealed.

Now, there's a poorly phrased sentence if I've ever seen one. It should be blindingly obvious to everyone who can read this that modern humans didn't go extinct. This is a fact on par with "Earth is roughly spherical" and "Space is mostly vacuum." Actually, wait, no, I'm even more sure that modern humans didn't go extinct than I am about those other things, because, last I checked, there were about 8 billion modern humans running around. Or sitting around. Whatever. You do you. Point is, we're not extinct yet.

Likely, the author meant "sub-populations of modern humans went extinct many times," which, okay, I guess they have science to back them up on that, and I'm not going to argue about it. But I feel like the way it's phrased would be like if they said "humans went extinct in Pompeii in 79 C.E."

The new DNA research has also shed new light on the role our Neanderthal cousins played in our success.

This is, I think, the interesting bit here. But I'd like to emphasize the "cousins" metaphor there. Sapiens and neandertals (the spelling of the latter appears to have legitimate variants) shared a common ancestor. A certain ape population separated at some point, genetic drift and selection occurred differently in each population, until you got groups with clear physiological differences in the fossil record. But, apparently, the physiological differences weren't enough to prevent interbreeding.

The definition of a species is, to my understanding, a bit of a slippery concept in biology. That is, it's not always obvious what constitutes a separate species. If it were as easy as "a population that can breed to produce fertile offspring," we wouldn't consider sapiens and neandertals separate species because, according to DNA evidence, they produced fertile offspring together.

While these early European humans were long seen as a species which we successfully dominated after leaving Africa, new studies show that only humans who interbred with Neanderthals went on to thrive, while other bloodlines died out.

Again, I feel like this is poorly phrased, and puts too much emphasis on Europe. Apparently, there are populations in sub-Saharan Africa today with no neandertal genes and, again, obviously they didn't die out. And they're the same species as the rest of us mostly-hairless bipeds.

Apart from these nitpicks, I think the new findings are fascinating, delving into how, basically, hybridization led to greater hardiness. As with all science, it may be overturned or refined through later studies, but this article itself describes an overturning of previous hypotheses about early human ancestry. And it has helpful infographics and pictures.

But unless we invent time travel (unlikely), all we can do is make hypotheses and test them. It's really a very human thing to do.

1 Like • Comment • View 2 comments

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