I think you are taking the "imaginary" part too seriously...
In terms of material reality, "-1" and "1" are equally imaginary as "i" - their "reality" is dependent on the system of mathematics where they are allowed to combine with other mathematical entities following particular rules.
"i" is not a REAL number but it IS a number... and "REAL" in this sense, refers to a specific mathematical definition of the set of real numbers, and not the ontological status in the material world.
In other words, I wouldn't worry too much about whether it exists if the math is correct (ie. i becomes -1 when squared)
~David
---------- Original Message ------------- Subject: Re: [PD] basic DSP stuff Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 16:48:23 -0500 From: Chuckk Hubbard badmuthahubbard@gmail.com To: pd-list@iem.at
Not that I don't appreciate the snide commentary, but this is why I'm asking. You can't forget the sin*sin part. i stands for "imaginary". (slowly: i is "imaginary"). Turning the product of sines into the negative product of sines is imaginary. There is no number that, squared, equals -1. There is no number that, squared, equals -1. It's not really there.
Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2005 20:58:36 +0100