>why do you have to make an impossible number into a number?
From a mathematician's point of view, because we can. And it leads to a new number system that has a very rich structure that we can ask interesting questions about. (Unlike trying to make some other impossible numbers into numbers, like division by 0.)
omniscientbeet t1_j6anyhc wrote
Reply to ELI5: Why do imaginary numbers even need to exist? by Tharsis101
>why do you have to make an impossible number into a number?
From a mathematician's point of view, because we can. And it leads to a new number system that has a very rich structure that we can ask interesting questions about. (Unlike trying to make some other impossible numbers into numbers, like division by 0.)