English Explanatory Dictionary

imaginary number

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A number of the form bi, where b is any real number and i denotes the imaginary unit.
  2. A number of the form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and b is nonzero.

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-imaginary number.wav

Word forms

imaginary number imaginary numbers

Etymology

The adjective imaginary in this context was first used (as French imaginaire) by René Descartes in 1673, La Geometrie, referring to imaginary numbers in the broad sense, as non-real roots of polynomials. Descartes' usage was derogatory, but the concept later gained acceptance through the work of Leonhard Euler and Carl Friedrich Gauss in the 18th century.

Synonyms

purely imaginary number

Related words

complex number real number

Translations

Bulgarian: компле́ксно число́ Chinese Mandarin: 虛數 /虚数 Finnish: imaginaariluku Finnish: imaginääriluku French: nombre imaginaire
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on I Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary