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From: andrew@inmet.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.math
Subject: Re: More on i**i - (nf)
Message-ID: <899@inmet.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 16-Feb-84 23:49:48 EST
Article-I.D.: inmet.899
Posted: Thu Feb 16 23:49:48 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Feb-84 01:45:58 EST
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#R:houem:-22900:inmet:5700001:000:601
inmet!andrew    Feb 15 10:55:00 1984

As I mentioned last week (in net.kids), I was once kicked out of high school
for asking my math teacher if there could be such a thing as sqrt(i).  Rather
than admit her ignorance, she accused me of "disrupting the class with smart-
aleck remarks" and attempted to have me suspended for a week.  The chairman
of the Math. Dept. explained Euler's Theorem 

     exp(x*i) = cos(x) + i*sin(x)

to her (and me), using it to calculate the correct value

     +/- (1+i)/sqrt(2)

and I was reinstated (much to her embarassment).  This says a lot about the
teaching standards in American public high schools.