having an arugument about the square root of -1,

my arguement is this.....


Claims of its nonexistence are confused with it not being a real number. It's called an imaginary number, but not because it doesn't exist. It's called an imaginary number because it is not real (and the word "real" in math lingo simply means a number on the number line that everyone is familiar with. It doesn't imply that other numbers do not exist.)

To give you an advantage to what it seems like you about to do in math, keep in mind the following two things about the number i, and most complex arithemetic will be easy (complex meaning "of the form a + bi", not complex meaning "hard")

1) If you ever square root -1, replace that with an i.
Example: sqrt(-9) = sqrt(9) * sqrt(-1) = 3i

2) If you ever square an i, replace it with -1.
Example: (3i)(6i) = 18i^2 = 18(-1) = -18.

I know, I know, "I thought when you square something, it comes out positive?" Yeah, that's a rule... for REAL numbers. "i" is not real. It is imaginary. It plays by its own rules.

the MENSA guys wont have it that it is a number depicted by I....