Subject: Re: [MATHEDCC] square root of -1 history
From: Paul Hertzel (hertzpau@niacc.cc.ia.us)
Date: Mon Jan 24 2000 - 14:06:43 EST
>1. Does anyone know what mathematicians first studied the square root of -1
>and when it was first called an imaginary number?
>
>Martha
>It was Euler who first used the letter i for sqrt(-1) in a memoir in 1777.
>
>Phil Mahler
But the i does not stand for "imaginary", rather, the term came into use
after
the symbol was already employed. In fact, "impossible" may have preceded
the word "imaginary"; see 'Impossible Numbers', by Ernest Nagel in "Studies
in the History of Ideas", where there may be a discussion of some of this
terminology.
Or maybe Chuck Lindsey knows if "An Imaginary Tale: The story of the square
root of -1" mentions who first weakened "impossible" to "imaginary". Maybe
in 100 years"imaginary" will have given way to "improper" numbers.
Paul Hertzel
North Iowa Area Community College
Mason City, IA
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