Sociolinguistic Artifacts

In this video the creator discusses how the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers is made extra confusing and strange simply because of their name "imaginary". These numbers, just like negative numbers, do really exist, they're just a little different. The name "imaginary" comes as an insult from French mathematician/philosopher Rene Descartes, who discovered them, and dubbed them imaginary. Since their discovery these numbers have become essential tools in physics, ever present in electronics, and fundamental to the formulation of quantum mechanics. The mathematical study of these numbers and the things you can do with them (complex analysis) has also become a foundational field in mathematics. "imaginary" numbers serve as an excellent showcase for how misnomers impact our societal understanding of the things they incorrectly refer to.