Subject: Re: [MATHEDCC] square root of -1 history
From: Brian E. Smith (smithb@management.mcgill.ca)
Date: Wed Jan 26 2000 - 02:30:29 EST
At 04:54 PM 1/21/00 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I have 2 questions.
>
>1. Does anyone know what mathematicians first studied the square root of
->1 and when it was first called an imaginary number?
>
As Phil said, it seems that Euler was athe first to use i in 1777. Cajori
continues "However, in 1847 Cauchy began to use i in a memoir on a new
theory of imaginaries..." --- so the term "imaginary number" was in use by
then.
>2. We are considering buying Mathematica, Maple, or Matlab. What do you
>see as the pros and cons of each program?
>
Depends on your intended use. You need to play with all three and decide
which best suits your purpose. I personally use Derive as my CAS and find
it student-friendly because of the menu structure.
Brian
___________________________________________________________________________
Brian E. Smith TEL: 514-398-4038 (Work)
McGill University FAX: 514-398-3876 (Work)
1001 Sherbrooke St. West FAX: 514-482-1639 (Home)
Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 1G5 EMAIL: smithb@management.mcgill.ca
Url: http://www.management.mcgill.ca/homepage/profs/smithb
___________________________________________________________________________
No human investigation can be called real science if it cannot be
demonstrated mathematically. Leonardo da Vinci
___________________________________________________________________________
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