• Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    That’s surprisingly accurate, as people here are highlighting (it makes geometrical sense when dealing with complex numbers).

    My nephew once asked me this question. The way that I explained it was like this:

    • the friend of my friend is my friend; (+1)*(+1) = (+1)
    • the enemy of my friend is my enemy; (+1)*(-1) = (-1)
    • the friend of my enemy is my enemy; (-1)*(+1) = (-1)
    • the enemy of my enemy is my friend; (-1)*(-1) = (+1)

    It’s a different analogy but it makes intuitive sense, even for kids. And it works nice as mnemonic too.

    • whereBeWaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      This is basically the staple way of explaining the topic in my country. It was a very bizzare concept for 13 year old me so it made understanding it a lot easier.

      • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
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        10 months ago

        Sorry for the question, but where are you from? I learned this with my mother, so I don’t know if it’s something common here (Brazil) or something that she picked from her Polish or Italian relatives.

    • pythonoob@programming.dev
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      10 months ago

      My math teacher in middle school explained it with love/hate, but same set up.

      If you hate to love you’re a hater If you love to hate you’re a hater