Why is Complex number notation the way it is?

[Tom Harris]

The story I heard was that one of the early electrical scientists, possibly
Volta, he of the Voltaic Piles (ouch!) used the term 'intensity' to describe
electrical current, to which he gave the symbol 'i'. 

Tom Harris, Software Engineer
Optiscan Imaging, 15-17 Normanby Rd, Notting Hill, Melbourne, Vic 3168,
Australia
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-----Original Message-----
From: grante at visi.com [mailto:grante at visi.com]
Sent: Thursday, 20 December 2001 9:58
To: python-list at python.org
Subject: Re: Why is Complex number notation the way it is?


In article <3C21173A.8E02D0A0 at cosc.canterbury.ac.nz>, Greg Ewing wrote:
> Josh Yotty wrote:
>> 
>> I've been coding Python for about a day now, and I can't 'see' why a
>> complex number like 2+3i is represented as 2+3j in Python.
> 
> Guido was apparently thinking like an engineer at the
> time. Electronic engineers use j instead of i to avoid
> confusion with current.

And I'm sure it's almost as obvious why "i" is used for
current. :) I was told it was because "c" was already taken for
capacitance, but I still don't know why "i" was chosen over
some other as-yet-unused letter.  But, we use notation where
current flows from "+" to "-" so don't try to confuse us with
facts!

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I love ROCK 'N
                                  at               ROLL! I memorized the
                               visi.com            all WORDS to "WIPE-OUT"
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