Imaginary Numbers

So this week we're studying imaginary numbers in algebra. You remember that the square root of 16 is 4, right? Well what's the square root of -16? It doesn't work (since a negative times a negative is a positive), so they designate the answer as 4i. That's what I like about math; if it doesn't work, make up something that does. Anyway, an imaginary number is real, not imaginary, but it's not a real number. And it doesn't obey a lot of the standard rules for multiplication and division and other operations either. So given that, you can imagine how delighted I was to find on the bus the other night when we were stopped nearly two hours because the highway was closed for a tanker accident, that the light was streaming in the windows, the air conditioner worked, I'd forgotten my textbook but remembered Americana, so here it is. I think I may actually have this done by the 4th of July, which is my imaginary deadline. I'm excited about finishing because that starts my vacation and I have a lot of other projects lined up.

When I was at the store last weekend, I picked up some miniature cucumbers. I've posed one next to an egg so you can see the scale. They had mini squash as well, but I grow that (not for me a baseball bat-sized zucchini). The mini cukes are very tasty, if a bit pricey (a little bag costs six times what a regular size cucumber does so I wouldn't buy them again, even if they are very tender) and are very different from the warty, stubby pickling cukes.

What to eat with one's miniature veggies? Why, miniature hot dogs, of course. They're very tasty, especially skewered and grilled (and listen, I love grilled hot dogs--I'm no food snob). It might be fun to make up a mess of these and serve them on tiny buns I'd bake. I wonder if I could find some little quail eggs for tiny deviled eggs! And those miniature corns that come in cans!

Elvis: "Isn't the white rabbit an imaginary character?"
Pink: "I'm going to give you an imaginary bite in the butt."