Think of the smallest number greater than 0...

[Vivisteiner]

EDIT: @PG: I dont believe you. Teeheeheee.

That's fine. Cultural relativism means that despotism is morally equvalent to pure democracy, and Moral relativism means that killing a baby is the same as running into a burning building to save the President.

Thats a given.

Why dont you try telling me something I dont know for a change?

[Peegee]

I can't tell you anything because I personally don't know anything. Interestingly since you also don't know anything, I can say anything and you wouldn't know it.

But we're talking about math, where none of this philosophical inference mumble jumble doesn't exist.

[oddler]

Let's just bring grammar into this: double negative.

Anyway... The Ceej, yes, there are negative numbers. A number is simply a symbol used to count or to show a total. If you have 10 units of money in your bank account and you write a check from that same account for 20 of the same units of money, you have -10 units of money. It just means that you owe money. It's a representation. Physical matter is obviously different but, yes, there are negative numbers.

[rubah]

If your quote was changed, it was an accident, I'm sorry. It looks like the part between math makes my head hurt and continue this conversation got deleted The important part was quoted thoughxD

[o_O]

Without them, electrical engineering wouldn't exist - taking complex mathematics away from that is like taking half of a chef's ingredients away.

Yeah, if you take the squizzleberries and xarkon beans away from the chef, he surely can't make his imaginary dish anymore.

That doesn't make any sense. A chef's profession is not based or dependent upon dishes made from squizzleberries and xarkon beans or any other imaginary ingredient. Chefs don't cook imaginary dishes. If you take the imaginary stuff away, a chef can still be a chef without any impact on the quality of their work.

By the same token, electrical engineering is heavily reliant upon complex numbers. You take them away, and an electrical engineer can no longer electrically engineer.

You can teach computers to use concepts that don't exist as long as these concepts have a solid set of rules to their use. My brother's original major was in engineering, so he knows how "important" imaginary numbers are. Obviously not important enough for his classes to learn them. Even if his students do plan becoming electrical engineers.

This, I just downright don't believe.

Firstly, no, you cannot build a computer without mathematics. The theory and logic that goes into electrical physics is very complex and you can't just <i>build</i> something that works. It's not about teaching computers to do stuff, it's about designing a set of circuits that perform a task - in this case an extremely complex task such as computing.
Secondly, not all branches of mathematics involve complex maths. It is not possible to complete even one year of an electrical engineering degree without using complex maths enough to know that it is essential. It just isn't possible. If he doesn't teach them, I can only assume that he's either not teaching calculus, or that the calculus he is teaching isn't advanced enough to include complex numbers. Note that I'm not disputing the fact that he was an engineering major.