Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!decvax!cca!ima!inmet!andrew 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 Lines: 17 #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.