Complex literals (was Re: I am never going to complain about Python again)

Ethan Furman ethan at stoneleaf.us
Thu Oct 10 13:39:12 EDT 2013


On 10/10/2013 07:20 AM, Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 1:12 AM, Grant Edwards wrote:
>>
>> Nope.  "i" is electical current (though it's more customary to use
>> upper case).  "j" is the square root of -1.
>>
>>> and that hypercomplex numbers include i, j, k, and maybe even other
>>> terms, and I never understood where j comes from. Why is Python
>>> better for using j?
>>
>> Because that's the way we do it in electrical engineering.
>
> Okay, so hold on a minute... a hypercomplex number is the sum of a
> real number, some electrical current, an imaginary number, and k?

That would certainly explain why it's hyper.  ;)

--
~Ethan~



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