• calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    This triangle is impossible.

    If the distance between B and C is 0, B and C are the same points. If that is the case, the distances between A and B and A and C must be the same.

    However, i ≠ 1.

    If you want it to be real (hehe) the triangle should be like this:

        C
        | \
    |i| |  \ 0
        |   \
        A---B
         |1|
    

    Drawing that on mobile was a pain.

    As the other guy said, you cannot have imaginary distances.

    Also, you can only use Pythagoras with triangles that have a 90° angle. Nothing in the meme says that there’s a 90° angle. As I see it, there are only 0° and 180° angles.

    Goodbye, I have to attend other memes to ruin.

    • planish@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      This is clearly meant to be a right triangle. And the distances between the points are the same (because the squares of the coordinate differences are the same), just the directions are different.

      If you move 1 unit forward, turn the correct 90 degrees, and then move i units forward, you will end up back where you started.

      • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        You can’t have a distance in a “different direction”. That’s what the |x| is for, which is the modulus. If you rotate a triangle, the length of the sides don’t change.

        • planish@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          The vector from one point to another in space has both a distance (magnitude) and a direction. Labeling the side with i only really makes sense if you say we’re looking at a vector of “i units that way”, and not at an assertion that these two points are a directionless i units apart. Then you’d have to break out the complex norms somebody mentioned.

    • thomasloven@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Context matters. In geometry i is a perfectly cromulent name for a real valued variable.