In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Roy Smith wrote: > In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > Lawrence D'Oliveiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, >> Wildemar Wildenburger wrote: >> >> > Tim Daneliuk wrote: >> >> >> >> One of the most common uses for Complex Numbers is in what are >> >> called "vectors". In a vector, you have both an amount and >> >> a *direction*. For example, I can say, "I threw 23 apples in the air >> >> at a 45 degree angle". Complex Numbers let us encode both >> >> the magnitude (23) and the direction (45 degrees) as a "number". >> >> >> > 1. Thats the most creative use for complex numbers I've ever seen. Or >> > put differently: That's not what you would normally use complex numbers >> > for. >> >> But that's how they're used in AC circuit theory, as a common example. > > But, if I talk about complex impedance in an AC circuit, I'm measuring two > fundamentally different things; resistance and reactance. One of these > consumes power, the other doesn't. There is a real, physical, difference > between these two things. When I talk about having a pole in the > left-hand plane, it's critical that I'm talking about negative values for > the real component. I can't just pick a different set of axis for my > complex plane and expect things to still make sense.
In other words, there is a preferred coordinate system for the vectors. Why does that make them any the less vectors? -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
