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

[Grant Edwards]

On 2013-10-10, Chris Angelico <rosuav at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 1:12 AM, Grant Edwards <invalid at invalid.invalid> 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?

I don't know that EE's ever encounter hypercomplex numbers (I
certainly never have), nor does Python support them, so in _practice_
there isn't really a conflict.

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