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Scientists Measured a Brain-Bending Version of Time That Shouldn’t Exist
(www.popularmechanics.com)
this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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Is this actually the definition? This is just "which numbers are divisible by 4" "all of them, you jut might get ¼, ½, or ¾." but in reverse, no?
Imaginary numbers are defined as the square roots of negative numbers, or as multiples of i, so yes that definition of imaginary time is accurate.
The square roots of negative numbers are different because they are neither rational nor irrational numbers, so they can be combined with real numbers to form complex numbers. Complex numbers are vital to mathematics because they allow you to solve polynominal equations that can't be solved with real numbers alone, like (x+1)^2 =-9 where x = -1±3i
Yes. I know. I still don't know what imaginary time actually means.
It's only relevant at quantum scales, so it's not something we can experience directly. The super oversimplified version is that imaginary time is what light is doing while it moves through a medium where it can't travel at light speed. Light always travels at light speed, but it can pass through infinitessimally small closed loops of time where the light isn't interacting with anything but is nevertheless delayed by things it might have interacted with.