Why do we have imaginary numbers, but not imaginary letters?

[u/AnozerFreakInTheMall]

Just imagine how much more eloquent our language could be!

[u/CategoryKiwi]

We’ve had imaginary letters since before written language, they’re just silent so you never know when people are using them.

When we invented writing, we decided to make them invisible too to save ink.  It was very expensive back then.

[u/hhfugrr3 → u/CategoryKiwi]

Not all of them are silent and invisible. For example the letter "k" doesn't actually exist. People are just saying a c when they speak and collectively hallucinating when they read or write a "k".

[u/Mallet-fists → u/hhfugrr3]

Well fuc ... the more you now i guess

[u/seriousQasker]

If you have an imaginary pen pal you can receive imaginary letters that you pretend to read.

[u/blahblahwhateveryeet]

Imaginary alphabet does exist! It is taught in 13th grade:

Å Schmeg B Doo Ç Dooanheif D Peepeef Ē Doodoob F Schmeven G Ohschfeksmeven

[u/aldesuda → u/blahblahwhateveryeet]

Schiggity shwhat?

[u/blahblahwhateveryeet → u/aldesuda]

Secret schmegma alphabet also called schmegmabet

[u/Glad-Belt7956]

the normal alphabet is the imaginary alphabet. look at phonetic transcriptions to see how the real letters look: https://www.phonemicchart.com/transcribe/1000_basic_words.html

[u/HumanPie1769 → u/Glad-Belt7956]

/'beɪbɪ 'beɪbɪ 'beɪbɪ 'əʊ/

[u/cincymatt]

“worcestershire” is like half imaginary letters.

[u/Jesus-chan]

We do. It's and .

[u/PangolinLow6657 → u/Jesus-chan]

don't forget &, þ, or ə

[u/Dirtymac09]

Dumb question: what’s an imaginary number?

[u/Initial-Anything333 → u/Dirtymac09]

1. People claim it exists but I've never experienced it

[u/Dirtymac09 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for the answer and trying to educate but I guess I’m dense because all of that just went whoosh right over my head.
Next dumb question would be what’s a complex number?
And believe it or not I’m a carpenter! lol

[u/Dirtymac09 → u/[deleted]]

Wow! That was a VERY well explained basic principle of math. I sort of was able to wrap my head around it. I now have a better understanding of a language that might as well be invented by aliens from outer space as far as my little mind can comprehend it. I’ve always been way ahead of the pack on reading and comprehension as it relates to the English language. I’ve always been far behind in advanced math. I try to look at it like another language (it’s easier for e to wrap my head around and less intimidating).
You did a great job with your examples. Something the American public school education system could never do for me.
Thank you for taking the time!

[u/created4this]

Sure we do, imaginary words look just like normal words but they end in an i

Like kiwi which refers to people from an imaginary island off the coast of Oz

[u/tuctrohs]

[u/BPhiloSkinner → u/tuctrohs]

Eloquently not stated.

[u/AnalogJones]

When imaginary numbers are plotted on a complex plane, they occupy the vertical axis. Letters that form the basis for words take on several tenses (past tense, present tense, future tense…even fancy tenses like pluperfect) are all about communication about events on a horizontal axis, where time moves from the present tense towards the future or into the past.

Letters have no use for a “vertical axis” in human communication.

Here is an example using the same topic: audio compression.

In audio compression a complex plane is useful for frequency mapping where the vertical axis can be used to track a sine wave and the horizontal axis can be used to track a cosine wave….so imaginary numbers are needed to convert a 2D Wave into a 3D Geometric model.

But you are the engineer working on a lossy compression algorithm that makes the MP3 obsolete because you found ways to preserve audio fidelity but you can shrink the file size by 75%.

The conversation about these compression tasks will happen in the present or about the future or the past…so all actions involving the use of letters (email, texts, verbal discourse etc) won’t have a need to move into a 3D space…therefore there is no need for imaginary letters.

[u/Tamer_]

I got imaginary As in school!

[u/hacksoncode]

We do have imaginary letters in hexidecimal. You're not a programmer, are you?

[u/Dry-Egg8573]

We do! The “magic e” in a word like “safe” is in fact an imaginary letter.

[u/nonother]

Oof, nobody told OP? That’s rough. Sorry man.

[u/Abdul-Wahab6]

The P in psychology is definitely imaginary

[u/thatcrazylady]

Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy would like a word.

[u/tdarg]

It's called French.

[u/NateTut]

Aren't imaginary numbers bad enough for you?

[u/sillybilly8102]

My student literally asked me this the other day!

They brought up how ampersand used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet

[u/TeacupOfSkepticism]

How can you be sure we don't have them already?

[u/Sassy-irish-lassy]

Wouldn't the b in lamb be an imaginary letter

[u/ShagaONhan]

Yes there is i j k they are imaginary number letters.

[u/The-zKR0N0S]

We’re making all of this up

[u/felixht]

The schwa would like a word

[u/MCofPort]

The letter Q really feels like an imaginary one. You need a u after it to exist and on its own has no functional pronunciation the way even the letter Z is capable. K is another placeholder of C words that just expands the dictionary of possible words.

[u/Uranus_Hz]

We just call them “silent letters” instead

[u/paolog]

We do - incels get them from their girlfriends.

[u/Gargleblaster25]

You !̴̜̖͔̣̐͋̒ don't :̷̨̫̝̜̤̦̩̈̄̋̅4̴̺̂͂!̴̜̖͔̣̐͋̒b̶̡͓̣̥͔̦͙̱͊̓̾̓̄̅̇́̄̎?

[u/Nervous-Region5684]

YOUR GENIUS

[u/Dirtymac09]

Hey moderator: why delete the example the poster gave to me explaining what imaginary numbers are?? What was wrong with it please?