I think you are taking the "imaginary" part too seriously...

In terms of material reality, "-1" and "1" are equally imaginary as "i" - their "reality" is dependent on the system of mathematics where they are allowed to combine with other mathematical entities following particular rules.

"i" is not a REAL number but it IS a number... and "REAL" in this sense, refers to a specific mathematical definition of the set of real numbers, and not the ontological status in the material world.

In other words, I wouldn't worry too much about whether it exists if the math is correct (ie. i becomes -1 when squared)

~David

---------- Original Message -------------
Subject: Re: [PD] basic DSP stuff
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 16:48:23 -0500
From: Chuckk Hubbard <badmuthahubbard@gmail.com>
To: pd-list@iem.at


 Not that I don't appreciate the snide commentary, but this is why I'm
asking. You can't forget the sin*sin part. i stands for "imaginary".
(slowly: i is "imaginary"). Turning the product of sines into the negative
product of sines is imaginary. There is no number that, squared, equals -1.
There is no number that, squared, equals -1. It's not really there.

Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2005 20:58:36 +0100
> From: Piotr Majdak <piotr@majdak.com>
> Subject: Re: [PD] basic DSP stuff
> Cc: Pure Data List <pd-list@iem.at>
> Message-ID: <436FB1EC.80908@majdak.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
> Chuckk Hubbard wrote:
> > i*sin(a) and i*sin(b) multiply to -sin(a)sin(b)?
>
> let's forget the sin*sin and look at the i*i part only: since i =
> sqrt(-1) by definition, i*i is -1 (slowly: i*i= sqrt(-1)*sqrt(-1) =
> sqrt(-1 * -1) = sqrt((-1)^2) = -1)
>
> Thus, i*sin(a) * i*sin(b) = -1 * sin(a)*sin(b)
>
> br, piotr
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>


-- 
~David Powers