Roy Smith wrote:
> Boris Borcic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Complex numbers are like a subclass of real numbers
>
> I wouldn't use the term "subclass". It certainly doesn't apply in the same
> sense it applies in OOPLs. For example, you can't say, "All complex
> numbers are real numbers". In fact, just the opposite.
>
> But, it's equally wrong to say, "real numbers are a subclass of complex
> numbers", at least not if you believe in LSP
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liskov_substitution_principle). For example,
> it is true that you can take the square root of all complex numbers. It is
> not, however, true that you can take square root of all real numbers.
>
That's not true. I suspect what you are attempting to say is that the
complex numbers are closed with respect to the square root operation,
but the reals aren't. Clearly you *can* take the square root of all real
numbers, since a real number *is* also a complex number with a zero
imaginary component. They are mathematically equal and equivalent.
> Don't confuse "subset" with "subclass". The set of real numbers *is* a
> subset of the set of complex numbers. It is *not* true that either reals
> or complex numbers are a subclass of the other.
I don't think "subclass" has a generally defined meaning in mathematics
(though such an assertion from me is usually a precursor to someone
presenting evidence of my ignorance, so I should know better than to
make them).
obpython: I have always thought that the "key widening" performed in
dictionary lookup is a little quirk of the language:
>>> d = {2: "indeedy"}
>>> d[2.0]
'indeedy'
>>> d[2.0+0j]
'indeedy'
>>>
but it does reflect the fact that the integers are a subset of the
reals, which are (as you correctly point out) a subset of the complexes.
regards
Steve
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