picomonster®

Welcome to our fun (and admittedly geeky) web site that is totally dedicated to the imaginary number. Here at picomonster, we explore typical imaginary number questions such as, “Can you show me examples of imaginary numbers in the real world?” or “Are there any practical applications of imaginary numbers?”

Imaginary Motion

Before we jump in, let’s look quickly at a fun concept - imaginary motion. Hit the “Imaginary” button in the figure left to see an engineer’s definition of Imaginary motion. Clearly, this motion is every bit as physical as “Real” motion (hit “Real” button for comparison). Imaginary doesn’t direcly imply non-existent as some may believe.

But if Imaginary motion is physical, what makes it “Imaginary”?

We use some cool interactive gadgets to answer this question and more, taking you from the dry math to a solid grasp of how imaginary numbers are used in real world applications. Each of our three pico-lessons takes only two minutes. Have fun!

PS. Thanks everybody so far for your comments. It’s been a lot of fun reading them all.

Bradley Chung