Re: mysterious numbers


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Re: mysterious numbers



well e is a natural number and no one really knows why it is what it is..
it just works... Pi is another one that just works.. it is really useful,
but it is a completely meaningless number if you look at just the digits,
but taken with everything else it is really powerful.  -1 well I dont know
whats so mysterious about that... unless you mean the cos and sin part...
thats sort of based on pi so it really shouldnt count...  As for i think
about it.. a number that by definition cannot exist.. since no square can
ever equal a negative, then the inverse of a squaring must be positive,
but i = sqrt(-1)  how can you do that? well you cant really so we have to
create them so that things like the quadratic equation can work when it
wouldnt otherwise.

On Thu, 19 Mar 1998, Garvin Cung wrote:

:can someone please help me on this equation?
:
:show that e^(i * pi) = -1
:
:i get the 4 'mysterious' answers:
:1. e^(i * pi)
:2. -1
:3. cos pi + i sin pi
:4. -1 + 0i
:
:according to my book, they say that this equation combines 4 of the
:most mysterious numbers of mathematics.
:
:what is so mysterious about these numbers? and what do they tell me?
:
:thanks in advance.
:_______________________________________________________
:Garvin Cung
:Email: cung@worldnet.att.net
:WWW: http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/lab/2240
:


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