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When I was in high school, I learned about $i$ in math class and I remember asking my teacher back then if $i$ was equal to $-i$ according to the simple following development :

\begin{equation} i=\sqrt{-1}=\sqrt{\frac{-1}{1}}=\sqrt{\frac{1}{-1}}=\frac{\sqrt{1}}{\sqrt{-1}}= \frac{1}{\sqrt{-1}}=\frac{1}{i}=-i \end{equation}

The teacher turned out to be unable to answer my question.

Even though I've learned since then that this equality is wrong somewhere, I have never understood where was the flaw in this simple thought exercise.

MJD
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    Simply put:$$\sqrt{\frac1{-1}}\ne\frac{\sqrt1}{\sqrt{-1}}$$The rule that $\sqrt{ab}=\sqrt a\sqrt b$ only holds when $a$ and $b$ are positive. – Akiva Weinberger Nov 10 '15 at 20:18
  • Defining the imaginary unit through i^2 = -1 will cancel out such sort of contradictions. – testman Nov 10 '15 at 20:23
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    A teacher that cannot answer that question is a very very very bad math teacher. – 5xum Nov 10 '15 at 20:33
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    @5xum this is typical in the US, where you're only qualified to teach public school if you have an education degree, which leaves little time to actually learn more about the subject you plan to teach. – Matt Samuel Nov 11 '15 at 04:40

4 Answers4

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The problem is that the rule $$ \sqrt{\frac ab} = \frac{\sqrt a}{\sqrt b} $$ doesn't hold in general unless $a$ and $b$ are positive.

user134824
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As a couple of people have pointed out, the immediate problem in your computation is that $\sqrt{-1/1} \ne \sqrt{1}/\sqrt{-1}$. But I'd like to expand on that a bit. The deeper problem is that you have to use great care when applying the square root symbol to anything except nonnegative real numbers. If we apply it to a nonnegative real number, there is no ambiguity about what is meant: If $x\ge 0$, then $\sqrt{x}$ denotes "the unique nonnegative number $y$ such that $y^2=x$." However, if $x$ is anything but a nonnegative real number, there is not such a simple prescription, and it's safest to avoid using the square root symbol for such things.

There is one more or less standard convention that one could use: the principal branch of the square root function is generally defined for all complex numbers except negative reals as follows: For $z\in \mathbb C \smallsetminus \{y\in \mathbb R: y<0\}$, $\sqrt{z}$ is interpreted to mean the unique complex number $y$ such that $y^2=z$ and $\operatorname{Re} y > 0$. But this still doesn't apply to negative reals. Although it's less universally accepted, one could choose to extend it to negative real numbers by stipulating that $\sqrt{y} = i\sqrt{|y|}$ for $y<0$. But you should always explain exactly what you mean by the square root symbol if you're applying it to anything other than a nonnegative real number.

That said, the notation $\sqrt{-1}$ is actually quite common in the literature as a way of representing $i$. It is consistent with the "extended principal branch" that I explained above, but most people who use it are just using it because it's somewhat less likely to be confusing than the letter $i$, which is commonly also used as a subscript for sequences or as an index for vectors or tensors, among other things. Personally, I avoid the notation $\sqrt{-1}$ because of all the ambiguities I described above. But if you do encounter it in a book, it's a sure bet that the writer is simply using it as another notation for $i$.

Jack Lee
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If $i=-i$, we would have $2i=0$ , so $4i^2=0$, which contradicts $4i^2=-4$.

Peter
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If $i = -i$, then $2i = 0$, which is absurd.

Zhanxiong
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