OT : FFS

Ridiculous

In message , Matt M writes

Try imaginary numbers instead.

Ok... Which is bigger 3+i5 or -3-i5 ? 4+i3 or 4-i3 ? 3+2i or 2+i3 ?

I don't have a definitition of 'bigger' for complex numbers. What's yours?

nigelH

Saw that on the Register ... banged head on desk. What schools did these people go to :(

magnitude = sqrt (Re^2 + im^2)

Steve

but then -8 is bigger than -5

nigelH

Exactly, it is "bigger" in size, but lower in value.

If you owe 8 pounds you have a bigger debt and a lower net worth than if you only owe 5 pounds.

Lizzy

The only formula required in life is F = M x A ! More cc's = more acceleration. lol. Badger.

But I have a smaller balance.

This is the argument that the poor lad that didn't win the prize in the original post put up and we all laughed at him. He argued that -8 was bigger than -5

No. Hang on.... the word was 'higher'. mia culpa.

But you can bet he wouldn't have thought there was a difference. Come to think of it, his response to our whole discussion of complex numbers would probably have been most uncomplimentary.

How would you define 'higher' for complex numbers then?

nigelH

The game actually says you have won if you find a temperature that is "lower", which to me seems to make the correct answer even more obvious than looking at it being "higher", because a lower *temperature* immediately implies 'less than' (in the correct mathematical sense of the term - don't get me started on the bollox that is MORE TH>N Insurance! Named by yet another person who didn't pass their GCSE Maths exam!).

Matt

No maths qualifications, plays the lottery, and is prepared to admit it in public. Has she no shame?

So the answer for Camelot is simple - use temperatures in Celsius (or Rankine).

No maths qualifications, plays the lottery, and is prepared to admit it in public. Has she no shame?

So the answer for Camelot is simple - use temperatures in Kelvin (or Rankine).

Because, of course, it was her "right" to decide which number is higher. What business is it of Camelot's to tell her she's wrong?

I despair.

On or around Fri, 09 Nov 2007 13:47:13 +0100, Matt M enlightened us thusly:

And they tell us school standards are still the same. We did -ve numbers long before GCSE standard. And besides, most people should have a grasp of low temperatures, -1 is low, -10 is lower. Unless, of course, with global warming, people don't understand temperatures below zero any more.

We'll have to go over to using the Kelvin scale, so I therefore pronounce that the temperature outside here this morning is a cool but not unpleasant

On or around Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:37:22 +0000, steve Taylor enlightened us thusly:

there's always one.

erm... thinking of Argand diagrams, that's the length of the hypotenuse, which should make all of the above the same.

It's some time since I took any interest in that kind of maths.

On or around Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:57:49 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@googlemail.com enlightened us thusly:

And the evening here is a rather lovely 293K. I'm sat outside, laptop on the table, beer in hand, enjoying a pleasant finish to a relaxed weekend (except I'll be fecking crippled tomorrow after cycling today).

That's "Pedant" aKshuallyy....

What has that done to MY pedant status ?

Steve