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Imaginary Numbers
listen:
  Magicians and mathematicians have pondered the impossibility and mystery of the square root of minus one for centuries. Tonight on the Front Porch we're going to let our minds run free while we explore the importance of imaginary numbers. We'll find out why electricity as we know it wouldn't exist without an understanding of the unreal numbers, and find out about the earliest searches for the square root for minus one. Our guest is Paul Nahin, author of An Imaginary Tale: The Story of the Square Root of Minus One.
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In the show a comment/question was raised as to whether or not there were cultural aspects or influences on numbers and mathematics. The guest and host of the show couldn't bring up an example, but there is at least one that I am well aware of - the number "0". It was the last numerical 'digit' or entity to be accepted in many western cultures. There have even been texts about it as being "not a number" and being banned by various religious groups in early history. A basic web search can provide you with some starting material. I am not an expert in this area, but you may want to consider such a show with an appropriate guest as a sequel to your imaginary numbers show.
As an electrical engineer, I can tell you that imaginary numbers are not fantasy or "unreal" - they are everywhere in the mathematics of nature, fractal/chaotic systems, etc. Maybe there is a way to perform mathematics without them, but it will take us a long time to figure out anything better !
I enjoy the program, please keep up the good work.