In Our Time.

One of my favourite radio programmes is In Our Time,presented by Melvyn Bragg.
Author,biographer,radio/television presenter.Uncle of Billy and inventor of the card game.: )This programme delves into things as diverse as Art to Algerythems, and Zen to Zoroastrianism and anything between.
Todays was about imaginary numbers,a vital tool in understanding the world,from aerodynamics to radio waves,they said.I come from a working class family and had to leave school at fifteen so never learned any higher mathematics,only the three Rs.Now the idea that if you had a mathematicle problem with no solution but could introduce an imaginary number that would solve that problem seems odd to say the least.
If during a school exam I had slipped in an imaginary number to help answer a long division question I dread to think what the teacher would have said or done.I know what would have happened had I still been at the catholic school,a bunch of keys would have whizzed across the room,straight at my head.And you can't teach a nun much about aerodynamics.