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.

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, ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. An imaginary number is a number that, when squared, has a negative result. Essentially, an ...

Think back to elementary school during which you learned about a seemingly useless mathematical relic called prime numbers. Your teacher told you in class one day that they are special numbers, ...

The Curious Cases team get to grips with the very real uses of imaginary numbers. Show more There is a bizarre number in maths referred to simply as ‘i’. It appears to break the rules of arithmetic - ...

The 'imaginary' number shouldn't be possible, but turns out to be utterly indispensable. Rutherford and Fry wrestle with its perplexing power. Show more There is a bizarre number in maths referred to ...