An Imaginary Tale: The Story of i [the square... by Paul J. Nahin

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Description

Today complex numbers have such widespread practical use--from electrical engineering to aeronautics--that few people would expect the story behind their derivation to be filled with adventure and enigma. In An Imaginary Tale , Paul Nahin tells the 2000-year-old history of one of mathematics'... read more

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First Sentence

At the end of his 1494 book Summa de Arithmetical, Geometria, Proportioni et Proportionalita, summarizing all the knowledge of that time on arithmetic, algebra (including quadratic equations), and trigonometry, the Franciscan friar Luca Pacioli (circa 1445-1514) made a bold assertion.

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