Physicists have built a real-number version of quantum mechanics that makes all the same predictions as the standard theory, ...

Physicists have built a real-number version of quantum mechanics that makes all the same predictions as the standard theory, ...

Quantum mechanics has long relied on complex numbers to describe the strange behavior of particles, from tunneling to ...

Imaginary numbers might seem like unicorns and goblins — interesting but irrelevant to reality. But for describing matter at its roots, imaginary numbers turn out to be essential. They seem to be ...

Physicists construct theories to describe nature. Let us explain it through an analogy with something that we can do in our everyday life, like going on a hike in the mountains. To avoid getting lost, ...

Mathematicians were disturbed, centuries ago, to find that calculating the properties of certain curves demanded the seemingly impossible: numbers that, when multiplied by themselves, turn negative.