I was talking to a friend about the problem with this proof and I'm stomped on the illegal step:
$i = (-1)^{(1/2)}= (-1)^{(2/4)} =((-1)^2)^{(1/4)} = 1^{(1/4)} = 1$
Asked
Active
Viewed 54 times
-3
-
Search tip: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/fake-proofs?tab=Frequent – Hans Lundmark Dec 02 '21 at 11:29
-
1@Gary: Your statement is very misleading, as the issue has nothing to do with complex numbers... – user21820 Dec 02 '21 at 15:37
1 Answers
0
This is wrong for the same reason that the following proof is wrong: $$-1 = (-1)^{(2/2)} = (-1^2)^{(1/2)} = 1^{(1/2)} = 1$$ 1 is $a$ 'square root of unity', but it's not unique.
Robbie
- 801