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A math lesson from 4chan (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 138 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (9 children)

That's surprisingly accurate, as people here are highlighting (it makes geometrical sense when dealing with complex numbers).

My nephew once asked me this question. The way that I explained it was like this:

the friend of my friend is my friend; (+1)*(+1) = (+1)
the enemy of my friend is my enemy; (+1)*(-1) = (-1)
the friend of my enemy is my enemy; (-1)*(+1) = (-1)
the enemy of my enemy is my friend; (-1)*(-1) = (+1)

It's a different analogy but it makes intuitive sense, even for kids. And it works nice as mnemonic too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is basically the staple way of explaining the topic in my country. It was a very bizzare concept for 13 year old me so it made understanding it a lot easier.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Sorry for the question, but where are you from? I learned this with my mother, so I don't know if it's something common here (Brazil) or something that she picked from her Polish or Italian relatives.

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