Complex numbers
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The complex numbers are numbers of the form <math> a + bi </math> where <math> a </math> and <math> b </math> are real numbers and <math> i </math> is a square root of unity. The complex numbers form an algebraicly closed field but do not permit a non-trivial ordering that is preserved under operations.
In popular culture
In Yvgeny Zamyatin's satirical novel We, the narrator's psychological distress at contemplating the concept of complex numbers becomes a metaphor for the limitations of totalitarian systems of thought.