Václav Veselý

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there is no number on the number line that gives you a negative number when you square it. The square root of a negative number seemed like a ridiculous concept. Descartes thought that these numbers were even worse than negative numbers; he came up with a scornful name for the square roots of negatives: imaginary numbers. The name stuck, and eventually, the symbol for the square root of –1 became i.
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
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