So what exactly is a complex number?

[Paul Boddie]

On 31 Aug, 18:12, "Chris Mellon" <arka... at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 8/31/07, Carsten Haese <cars... at uniqsys.com> wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 2007-08-30 at 20:11 -0500, Lamonte Harris wrote:
> > > Like in math where you put letters that represent numbers for place
> > > holders to try to find the answer type complex numbers?
>
> > Is English your native language? I'm having a hard time decoding your
> > question.
>
> I'm pretty sure he was describing middle school algebra.

Yes, I imagine that the "letters that represent numbers" is intended
to refer to this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_algebra

Whereas complex numbers are, of course, described here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_number

I hope the above resources are informative for the original inquirer.

Paul