Undercover Goose - book 6

Part 11 - Imaginary Numbers

'Now for imaginary numbers,' Anti said. 

 'An imaginary number is the square root of a negative number.' 

 'Remember 2x2=4 and 1x1=1. So the square root of 4 is 2 and the square root of 1 is 1. But what is the square root of -1?'

'It cannot be  -1, because a negative number multiplied by a negative number is always positive.'

While it is not a real number, it is "real" in the sense that imaginary numbers exist and are used in mathematics, science and electrical engineering.

'Imaginary numbers are denoted by the symbol i (or j in electronics) and are useful in signal processing and wireless technologies including radar.'

'In mathematics, all the imaginary terms are grouped separately from real terms and each group can be simplified with the usual multiplication and division rules.'

So for example,

(2i + 20) + (3i - 8) = 5i + 12 = 5 x (square root of -1) + 12

Notice that i x i = -1  

 At the end of class Miguel and I asked professor Smolkin to clarify the algebra proving the multiplication of two negative numbers, so by the time we left, the crowd of chattering students had gone to the next classroom. Miguel went to the washrooms while I went to my locker and found Boz waiting. He quite deliberately bumped into me and I stepped back with an automatic apology but he stuck a hand against my chest and pushed me back against the lockers. 'You're in my way, Zippy Doynk.' 

 He pushed me again. 'You should look where you're going.' 

 I stepped back, feeling a mixture of fear and anger but I looked directly into his eyes and forced a smile. 'I'm sorry, but my name is Ziff Dion and I apologize. I didn't know this was your locker.'

 Boz glanced at his cronies, Ozzy and Jeff, smirking behind him. 'You ratted to Anti about the spitballs.' He pushed again more forcefully. 'I don't like rats. Wanna fight?' 

 It didn't sound like a question. 'I didn't say anything to Professor Smolkin.' 

 'You won't fight? So run away, chicken!' Boswell snarled menacingly and pushed me in the chest with both hands but I turned so that he lost his balance and staggered into the lockers. I tried to remember one of the tips about bullying. Distraction! That was it.

'That reminds me,' I said. 'I'm doing a survey on fast food. Do you prefer rutabaga burgers or chicken?'

Boz looked at me as if I was deranged. 'Rutabagas?' he muttered dubiously and then he glanced at Ozzy and Jeff. 'You won't fight? Yellow belly!' 

'Do you mean, yellow-bellied, sap sucker?' I asked. He looked puzzled. 'It's a kind of wood pecker,' I explained. 'What would fighting prove? I'd rather be a live chicken than a dead turkey.'

 'Who're you calling a sap sucker?' Boswell snapped angrily. 

 'Gobble, gobble,' I answered seriously. 'You who?'

Boz looked totally confused. He raised his fist and then scratched the back of his neck, laughed contemptuously and walked away muttering. 'I couldn't hit a clown with blond ringlets.' 

 Ozzie and Jeff followed, uncertain whether to congratulate, or commiserate with, him.

Miguel arrived a minutes later. 'What was all that about? Are you okay?' 

'I'm fine, thanks. He tried to pick a fight but I distracted him.'

'He's a pain in the butt,' Miguel said. 'You really ought to report this to Principal Ball.'

 'I'll think about it,' I said.