Although most of us do not use imaginary numbers in our daily life, in engineering and physics they are in fact used to represent physical quantities, just as we would use a real number to represent something physical like the length of a stick or the distance from your house to your school. In general, an imaginary number is used in combination with a real number to form something called a complex number, a+bi where a is the real part (real number), and bi is the imaginary part (real number times the imaginary unit i). This number is useful for representing two dimensional variables where both dimensions are physically significant. Think of it as the difference between a variable for the length of a stick (one dimension only), and a variable for the size of a photograph (2 dimensions, one for length, one for width). For the photograph, we could use a complex number to describe it where the real part would quantify one dimension, and the imaginary part would quantify the other. In electrical engineering, for example, alternating current is often represented by a complex number. This current requires two dimensions to represent it because both the intensity and the timing of the current is important. If instead it were a DC current, where the current was totally constant with no timing component, only one dimension is required and we don't need a complex number so a real number is sufficient. The two key points to remember are that the imaginary part of the complex number represents something physical, unlike it's name implies, and that the imaginary number is used in complex numbers to represent a second dimension. Remember, a purely imaginary voltage in an AC circuit will shock you as badly as a real voltage - that's proof enough of it's physical existence. I'll put a link in the link area to a great interactive site (it's actually my site but for it's educational purposes only) that explains the imaginary number utility more visually with animations.
In advanced calculations.Answer:Imaginary numbers are used extensively in the development of electronic systems, control systems and physics.
Physics (e.g., quantum mechanics, relativity, other subfields) makes use of imaginary numbers. "Complex analysis" (i.e., calculus that includes imaginary numbers) can also be used to evaluate difficult integrals and to perform other mathematical tricks. Engineering, especially Electrical Engineering makes use of complex and imaginary numbers to simplify analysis of some circuits and waveforms.
The answer to this question is more like an opinion than a solid fact. Several different mathematicians have been attributed to contributions in imaginary and complex numbers, but the work of Leonhard Euler gave new meaning to how imaginary and complex numbers behave, and how they can be used to simplify the analysis of something very real: waves (especially electromagnetic waves).Euler's Formula: e^(i*Θ) = cos(Θ) + *sin (Θ)
cryptography
The imaginary axis is used in the definition of the complex numbers. Complex numbers are used in many fields in engineering, in particular - electric engineering, aerodynamics, acoustics etc.
examples: 1, 2, 0, -5, sqrt(2), pi etc. real numbers means numbers on the real plane. the opposite of real numbers are imaginary numbers which takes the format of ai, in which the i is the imaginary unit they do not exist on the real plane, but only on the imaginary plane. they can be found by square-rooting a negative number, e.g. sqrt(-4)=2i usually imaginary numbers are used with real numbers, with the format a+bi, and this is called complex numbers.
Real numbers are numbers that exist from negative infinity to positive infinity and everything in between. real numbers consist of every number you are used to. Imaginary numbers are numbers that aren't used in conventional math (such as i)
Many options - e.g. -2"Real number" means all the numbers we know, including positive and negative numbers.The only numbers that are not included are "imaginary numbers" - numbers that have an imaginary part i (used only i physics or high mathematics).See real-number
Mathematics is beautiful in itself. Back in the 1700s and later, mathematicians studied "imaginary" numbers (numbers that involve a factor of the square root of -1) knowing that they didn't describe anything "real", the way "real numbers" do. But when beauty can be melded to practicality, things get REALLY interesting. It turns out that you can use imaginary numbers and "complex numbers" (which have a "real" component and an "imaginary" component) to describe the way radiation and electromagnetic fields behave.
Real and Complex. Real numbers are your everyday numbers that most people are familiar with and Complex numbers are Real numbers mixed with imaginary numbers. Of course this is a VERY BROAD oversimplification, and the question is somewhat vague in that there are other "types" of numbers that are used, but I think this is the answer you are looking for.
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Roman numerals are used only for integers, which are real numbers. The Romans never used imaginary numbers, which are at a tremendously more advanced stage of mathematics than they ever reached.
Any situation numbers are used.
A complex number is any number that can be represented in the form of a+bi, the real numbers are a and b, the imaginary number is i. Complex numbers are used in scientific and engineering fields.
Possibly because x and y are used to denote the real and imaginary parts, respectively.
Imaginary numbers are only ever used when you are using the square roots of negative numbers. The square root of -1 is i. You may find imaginary numbers when you are finding roots of equations.