Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

He "did" invent complex numbers! From TFA:

"Initially, Udo's aim was to devise a method for determining who would reach heaven. He assumed each person's soul was composed of independent parts he called "profanus" (profane) and "animi" (spiritual), and represented these parts by a pair of numbers. Then he devised rules for drawing and manipulating these number pairs. In effect, he devised the rules for complex arithmetic, the spiritual and profane parts corresponding to the real and imaginary numbers of modern mathematics."



Serves me right for not reading the "article" thoroughly. ;-)




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: