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Why are imaginary numbers used in electronic systems control systems and physics?
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.
Can a complex number be imaginary?
Yes, imaginary numbers are a subset of complex numbers.
What is the difference between imaginary numbers and complex numbers?
No difference. The set of complex numbers includes the set of imaginary numbers.
Who discovered complex numbers in mathematics?
That's difficult to say. Rafael Bombelli defined an imaginary number in 1572, but Rene Descartes actually gave the term imaginary. Nobody seemed to have much use for them until the work of Euler and Gauss in the 1700's and 1800's. This information I got from the Wikipedia article on Imaginary Numbers.
Is the imaginary unit 8i irrational?
No, it is imaginary. Irrational numbers are a subset of real numbers Real numbers and imaginary numbers are sets without any overlap.
