Re: Displaying imaginary munbers on a graph

To: CALC-TI@LISTS.PPP.TI.COM
Subject: Re: Displaying imaginary munbers on a graph
From: Ray Kremer <rkremer@BRADLEY.EDU>
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998 00:19:04 -0400
Reply-To: Ray Kremer <rkremer@BRADLEY.EDU>

Of course you can't do it directly, think about it, how would you put an
imaginary number on a number line?  If I get your meaning though, you need
only a simple substitute.  Back when I was first taught imaginary numbers,
the text book briefly decribed ploting points on a graph where the
horizontal is the real numbers, and the vertical is imaginary.  Thus, the
point (2,3) is equivalent to 2+3i.  Notice this is exactly the way the
TI-85/86 displays imaginary numbers.  Following this method, store the
imaginary number to VAR, and draw the point (Real VAR, Imag VAR)

>Does anyone know if there is a way to display imaginary numbers (a + bi
>form) on the graph screen?  It won't do it if you've stored it as a
>variable, but I can't think of any other way to do it.  The reason I need
>to do this is for a quadratic formula program (of course, what else?) and
>it'd just be really convinient if there were a way.  If not, I guess I'll
>have to figure some way around it.  Thanks for any help anyone can offer!