Note 58 — PART II LOVE AND CHANCE

[A more familiar example of this is the introduction of irrational or absurd numbers like √2. After it was proved that no ratio of two integers could possibly equal √2 the idea of number was generalized to include the latter. Fractions and the so-called imaginary numbers illustrate the same process of generalization for the sake of making certain operations (i.e. division and finding the root) continuously applicable.]