A Visual, Intuitive Guide to Imaginary Numbers 直观理解虚数
Imaginary numbers always confused me. Like understanding e, most explanations fell into one of two categories:
虚数一直困惑着我。和理解e一样，大多数解释无非是以下两种：
• It’s a mathematical abstraction, and the equations work out. Deal with it.
• 这是数学的抽象概念。很好用。
• It’s used in advanced physics, trust us. Just wait until college.
• 物理上会用到的！信我！大学里有！！！
Gee, what a great way to encourage math in kids! Today we’ll assault this topic with our favorite tools:
哇，这也太能激励孩子们学数学了吧！现在我就要用我们最爱的工具来解决这个问题：
• Focusing on relationships, not mechanical formulas.
• 关注的是关系而非机械的公式
• Seeing complex numbers as an upgrade to our number system, just like zero, decimals and negatives were.
• 把虚数视作我们对数字系统的升级，跟0，小数，负数一样。
• Using visual diagrams, not just text, to understand the idea.
• 用图表取代文本。
And our secret weapon: learning by analogy. We’ll approach imaginary numbers by observing its ancestor, the negatives. Here’s your guidebook:
还有我们的秘密武器：用类比来学习。我们会通过虚数的祖先（负数）来学习虚数。指南如下：
It doesn’t make sense yet, but hang in there. By the end we’ll hunt down i and put it in a headlock, instead of the reverse.
好像不是很明白，不过坚持一会吧。最后我们会抓住i而不是被i卡脖子。
