Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Imaginary numbers push the boundaries of calculus and other branches of math. Hill Street Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images ...

The rule of our daily lives is that "multiplying the same number by itself (squaring it) always results in a positive number." However, in the world of mathematics, a number called an "imaginary ...

Listening to the talk about complex numbers, my hand suddenly stopped.A complex number is expressed asz = a + ib.a is the ...

Mathematicians were disturbed, centuries ago, to find that calculating the properties of certain curves demanded the seemingly impossible: numbers that, when multiplied by themselves, turn negative.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: A team of German physicists has built a fully working version of quantum mechanics that uses only real numbers. Complex numbers, built from a ...

For the first time, physicists have built a working version of quantum mechanics without complex numbers — numbers that have been considered essential to the theory for nearly a century. Complex ...

As any algebra student is likely to ask a teacher, "Who ever uses complex numbers anyway?" The obvious answer, of course, is "math teachers." But that's just the beginning. Most scientists and ...

The world of math is complex … in more ways than one. Sure, it’s full of complex ideas that are all tied up and packaged within beautiful and often times complex wrapping paper that is adorned with ...

An illustration of physics equations being bent and warped. New research has found a way to accurately predict quantum interactions without using complex numbers. | Credit: vitacopS via Getty Images ...

To a nonmathematician, having the letter “i” represent a number that does not quite exist and is “imaginary” can be hard to wrap your head around. If you open your mind to this way of thinking, ...