Can some explain to me how:
$${\sqrt{-{\mathtt{1}}}} = {i}$$
and how do you work out the sqaure root of -1?
Hi Nathan,
i is the basic unit of the imaginary number system.
Nothing multiplied by itself can be negative. That is impossible in the REAL world.
So $${\sqrt{-{\mathtt{1}}}}$$ does not exist in the real world.
BUT there is a whole other system of numbers called imaginary OR complex numbers and in that system
$${\sqrt{-{\mathtt{1}}}}$$ is assigned the letter $${i}$$