cscussel@ihuxq.UUCP (08/23/83)
I forgot to mention my current favorite. It's not really that near a miss, but it's curious enough to make up for that: i i = 1/5 It's actually about 0.208-, but it is in fact real (that is, not complex).
res@ihuxn.UUCP (08/23/83)
Another oddity which is not a near miss is the following: e ** (-i * PI) = -1 Note that what we have is the fact that a transcendental number raised to an imaginary transcendental power is a real integer. (I may have one or more of the signs in the above equation messed up, since it has been lots of years since I studied AC Circuits. If any flames result, please direct them to ...!hades!/dev/null). Rich Strebendt ...!ihnp4!ihuxn!res
levy@princeton.UUCP (08/25/83)
Sorry, but to me the fact that e ** (i * PI) = -1 is no more surprising than e ** 0 = 1... It just comes from the fact that the circle is round, and its perimeter is 2 * pi the radius... -- Silvio Levy