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The Impossible Number

Curious Cases

CHAPTER

How to Define Oscillating Waves Without Complex Numbers

Walt Disney were looking for something that would faithfully recreate the sound of a symphony orchestra in a cinema. So they had to... It was basically the first proper decent sound system with what Hewlett Packard did. Do you know what sound is Adam? I know what... Is it an oscillating wave? No, you're talking about films. And then we can describe currents and sound waves and water waves using complex numbers. But I'm going to make you feel better, because you don't absolutely have to use complex numbers for any of those things. We can do without. If you want to do clunky mathematics, less beautiful mathematics, there are ways to describe oscillations without

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