Comment on What's a mathematician to do? (2010)parentComments−jvans4moLots of fun counter examples to this. Complex numbers were introduced in the 1600s with no practical application for almost 300 years until they were used in electromagnetism and quantum mechanics.−lmm4moComplex numbers were introduced in the 1600s with no practical application for almost 300 years.On the contrary, complex numbers were introduced to make the cubic formula work.
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Lots of fun counter examples to this. Complex numbers were introduced in the 1600s with no practical application for almost 300 years until they were used in electromagnetism and quantum mechanics.
On the contrary, complex numbers were introduced to make the cubic formula work.