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"An imaginary number is a complex number that can be written as a real number multiplied by the imaginary unit i" The page Complex number says "A complex number is a number that can be expressed in the form a + bi". So does our article mean that an imaginary number is a complex number where a=0? Or is the definition at Complex number wrong in insisting on 'a'?--Richardson mcphillips (talk) 14:03, 27 May 2019 (UTC)
also, Complex number says "...i is a solution of the equation x2 = −1. Because no real number satisfies this equation, i is called an imaginary number." This is different from the current article. --Richardson mcphillips (talk) 14:05, 27 May 2019 (UTC)
A recent edit by PaulHue was reverted by Beauty School Dropout. The disagreement is over whether a well known ancient mathematician is called "Hero" or "Heron". I have come disputes over this before, so I thought it might help to clarify the situation. The man's name was Ἥρων, which transliterated into the Latin alphabet is "Heron". However, as with many other ancient Greek names, it is a long established custom in English to used the form of the name which the ancient Romans used, which is not always a literal transliteration of the Greek. In this case the Latin form of the name was "Hero", and that is the form of the name which has been usual in English for many centuries. An exactly parallel name is Πλάτων, which transliterates as "Platon", but the person in question is universally known in English as "Plato". In recent times some authors have used the form "Heron", and that is the form of the name that I encountered when I was young, and therefore the name under which I normally think of the mathematician in question.
When I started writing this, my intention was merely to explain why there are two different forms of the name in use, for the purpose of clarifying the issue when two or more editors disagree, and stop there. However, it then occurred to me that it might be interesting to see which form of the name is more commonly used in English: is it still "Hero", or has "Heron" now taken over? I found that a Google search for -Hero "Heron of Alexandria" produced about 71,000 hits, and -Heron "Hero of Alexandria" 235,000. I am, of course, aware that for various reasons a Google search is not a totally reliable measure of frequency of use, but in this case the result gives so very substantial majority to "Hero", the traditional form in English, that unless and until someone produces more reliable evidence that "Heron" is now the more common, we should prefer "Hero". In addition, the Wikipedia article about him uses "Hero", and there is an advantage in consistency. My own natural preference is for "Heron", since, as I explained above, that is the form which comes more naturally to me, but in light of what I have just said I shall restore the form "Hero" in the article. JBW (talk) Formerly known as JamesBWatson 19:34, 2 October 2019 (UTC)
Would this article be improved if a section were added titled, Use of Imaginary Numbers, that mentioned their use in quantum mechanics, electric circuits, calculus, quadratic planes, and the like? Bob Enyart, Denver KGOV radio host (talk) 12:55, 10 April 2020 (UTC)
The following sentence is a run-on sentence and is confusing.
Would the sentence be clearer (albeit still run-on) if the phrase "i is" were added, as shown below?
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.137.146.91 (talk • contribs) 07:19, 7 April 2021 (UTC)
Now I understand! Thanks so much. Math is good.69.137.146.91 (talk) 16:06, 9 April 2021 (UTC)
What is the difference between imaginary number and imaginary unit? of Wikipedia The name of another article is imaginary unit. Aren't these two articles about the same thing? The most logical thing to do is to merge the articles (or delete one of them). Bera678 (talk) 16:56, 17 December 2023 (UTC)