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tsimionescu commented on Mathematicians disagree on the essential structure of the complex numbers (2024)   infinitelymore.xyz/p/comp... · Posted by u/FillMaths
ActorNightly · 9 hours ago
Honestly, the rigid conception is the correct one. Im of the view that i as an attribute on a number rather than a number itself, in the same way a negative sign is an attribute. Its basically exists to generalize rotations through multiplication. Instead of taking an x,y vector and multiplying it by a matrix to get rotations, you can use a complex number representation, and multiply it by another complex number to rotate/scale it. If the cartesian magnitude of the second complex number is 1, then you don't get any scaling. So the idea of x/y coordinates is very much baked in to the "imaginary attribute".

I feel like the problem is that we just assume that e^(pi*i) = -1 as a given, which makes i "feel" like number, which gives some validity to other interpretations. But I would argue that that equation is not actually valid. It arises from Taylor series equivalence between e, sin and cos, but taylor series is simply an approximation of a function by matching its derivatives around a certain point, namely x=0. And just because you take 2 functions and see that their approximations around a certain point are equal, doesn't mean that the functions are equal. Even more so, that definition completely bypasses what it means to taking derivatives into the imaginary plane.

If you try to prove this any other way besides Taylor series expansion, you really cant, because the concept of taking something to the power of "imaginary value" doesn't really have any ties into other definitions.

As such, there is nothing really special about e itself either. The only reason its in there is because of a pattern artifact in math - e^x derivative is itself, while cos and sin follow cyclic patterns. If you were to replace e with any other number, note that anything you ever want to do with complex numbers would work out identically - you don't really use the value of e anywhere, all you really care about is r and theta.

So if you drop the assumption that i is a number and just treat i as an attribute of a number like a negative sign, complex numbers are basically just 2d numbers written in a special way. And of course, the rotations are easily extended into 3d space through quaternions, which use i j an k much in the same way.

tsimionescu · 8 hours ago
This completely misses the point of why the complex numbers were even invented. i is a number: it is one of the 2 solutions to the equation x^2 = -1 (the other being -i, of course). The whole point of inventing the complex numbers was to have a set of numbers for which any polynomial has a root. And sure, you can call this number (0,1) if you want to, but it's important to remember that C is not the same as R².

Your whole point about Taylor series is also wrong, as Taylor series are not approximations, they are actually equal to the original function if you take their infinite limit for the relevant functions here (e^x, sin x, cos x). So there is no approximation to be talked about, and no problem in identifying these functions with their Taylor series expansions.

I'd also note that there is no need to use Taylor series to prove Euler's formula. Other series that converge to e^x,cos x, sin x can also get you there.

tsimionescu commented on Is particle physics dead, dying, or just hard?   quantamagazine.org/is-par... · Posted by u/mellosouls
throw_m239339 · a day ago
I find the idea that reality might be quantized fascinating, so that all information that exists could be stored in a storage medium big enough.

It's also kind of interesting how causality allegedly has a speed limit and it's rather slow all things considered.

Anyway, in 150 years we absolutely came a long way, we'll figure it that out eventually, but as always, figuring it out might lead even bigger questions and mysteries...

tsimionescu · 18 hours ago
Note that "reality" is not quantized in any existing theory. Even in QM/QFT, only certain properties are quantized, such as mass or charge. Others, like position or time, are very much not quantized - the distance between two objects can very well be 2.5pi planck lengths. And not only are they not quantized, the math of these theories does not work if you try to discretize space or time or other properties.
tsimionescu commented on Matrix messaging gaining ground in government IT   theregister.com/2026/02/0... · Posted by u/rbanffy
onraglanroad · a day ago
Also, I'd encourage the use of "passphrase" rather than "password".

No-one normal can remember tr5vgh6##t5, but something like "$firstpetsname notatafarm garbagecan" is secure and easily remembered.

tsimionescu · a day ago
Having tried to use that, I can assure you that no one actually (a) remembers their passphrase, nor (b) is willing to type it in when it does come up. It's a fun idea, but it's actually much worse UX than even a secure password.
tsimionescu commented on Microsoft's Copilot chatbot is running into problems   wsj.com/tech/ai/microsoft... · Posted by u/fortran77
stickfigure · 6 days ago
Comments in Facebook may not be perfect, but they are vastly better than youtube comments. This is a false equivalence.
tsimionescu · 6 days ago
I've personally seen WAY more abusive and hateful comments on Facebook, from real accounts of real people, with pictures and friends and everything, than I have ever seen on YouTube. This may be very locale dependent, but in my country (Romania, which has a pretty large proportion of people online from very socially conservative backgrounds) you can easily find extremely explicitly misoginistic, racist, homophobic, and just plain hateful comments coming from real FB and Instagram accounts, again, from people using their real names and faces and everything. I've seen far fewer similar comments on YouTube videos, even ones from the same country.
tsimionescu commented on Microsoft's Copilot chatbot is running into problems   wsj.com/tech/ai/microsoft... · Posted by u/fortran77
Sharlin · 6 days ago
I'm sure soon enough it'll be renamed "Copilot 365 Explorer" or something similar.
tsimionescu · 6 days ago
That seems far too clear, I'd bet more on "Copilot Online".
tsimionescu commented on The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal   frommers.com/tips/airfare... · Posted by u/donohoe
lazide · 8 days ago
Congrats for being one of today’s 10,000! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Airlines_Flight_423].

Notably in India, there have been a few times where Sikhs have been at the head of violent revolts - and a few times where they have been targeted by violent purges/genocides.

They’re generally pretty chill, but they aren’t pacifists.

tsimionescu · 8 days ago
Indeed, I didn't know about this incident, thanks for sharing it.

Anyway, I wasn't trying to say that Sikhs are more or less likely than any other group to be pacifist. I was saying we shouldn't even be having this discussion, and simply scan people for weapons, and use things like actual random screening to help as needed. And that religious reasons for carrying weapons are not a valid excuse.

tsimionescu commented on The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal   frommers.com/tips/airfare... · Posted by u/donohoe
noduerme · 8 days ago
I think you misunderstood me. That's exactly what I'm saying. And I'm saying that Sikhs with or without ceremonial blades are no more of a threat than Mormons wearing special underwear.

[edit] To be more specific: An individual with an extreme belief about anything is as dangerous as an extremist member of a group with extreme beliefs. So the smart thing is to look at the beliefs and extramicy of each person. If you find someone trying to board an aircraft who doesn't care if they make it to the end of their flight, that is a security problem.

tsimionescu · 8 days ago
I think the best and easiest idea is to prevent people from carrying weapons on airplanes. Taking over an airplane with special underwear is not a realistic threat.

In contrast, trying to interview and run background checks on every person boarding a plane to figure out if they are an extremist on a mission or not is (a) much more invasive, and (b) much less likely to work out. Especially when you actually don't want to prevent fundamentalists from flying on planes (I don't think preventing some major evangelical church leader or some radical rabbi from flying would even be constitutional, and clearly not a popular move if attempted).

Note that I am not at all advocating for extra security targeting of Sikhs or any other such religious or ethnic targeting. I am just saying that no one should be allowed to carry a weapon on board a commercial airplane, for any reason.

tsimionescu commented on The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal   frommers.com/tips/airfare... · Posted by u/donohoe
tsimionescu · 8 days ago
No, not at all. I was simply combating the idea that the kinds of reasons that lead to people being less likely to become regular criminals (a religious reason to carry a weapon, being licensed and trained with a weapon) would apply to their risk profile on airplanes.
tsimionescu commented on The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal   frommers.com/tips/airfare... · Posted by u/donohoe
noduerme · 8 days ago
Honestly, I would just give them a pass to carry a ceremonial knife, if they could prove they were Sikhs and not someone pretending to be. But I guess that's why we can't have nice things and why the same rules have to apply to everyone. I think most reasonable people understand that they can't preserve every aspect of their personal beliefs or pride in a situation involving the safety of millions of people flying daily. Carrying a weapon is certainly a bit unusual as a pillar of faith, but there are plenty of others that could also be deemed antipathetic to the well functioning order of a modern society trying to move people safely from A to B. And the same way I would consider trained and licensed gun owners to be a relatively low threat and a rule-abiding group of citizens, that's how I would view Sikhs with their blades (or even more so). So if you're Amish, take a horse. If it's Shabbat, wait til Sunday. If you're the TSA and you want to be more efficient by discriminating, look at people who have no discrenable ideology, or those whose ideology actively conflicts with your mission of preventing attacks.
tsimionescu · 8 days ago
[flagged]
tsimionescu commented on Surely the crash of the US economy has to be soon   wilsoniumite.com/2026/01/... · Posted by u/Wilsoniumite
0xDEAFBEAD · 11 days ago
>Trump has no ability to admit mistakes even to himself

Whatever happened to 'TACO'

tsimionescu · 10 days ago
It got replaced with a simpler system of comparing attack rolls to the AC directly.

Oh, wait, that was THAC0...

u/tsimionescu

KarmaCake day21714April 10, 2018View Original