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"Veritasium" (YT) - "The Big Misconception About Electricity" ?

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bsfeechannel:

--- Quote from: adx on April 08, 2022, 11:53:44 am ---My view on those videos is it seems a bit fangrrlish and "story" rather than dry sequence of facts - which is totally appropriate for a YT video, but quoting it as evidence is similar to someone quoting a movie as evidence because it was well received and based on real events.

"how important Steinmetz work is" <> "complex numbers ... The ubiquitous and affordable distribution of energy wouldn't be possible without the help of its application to engineering."

Sounds utterly ridiculous to me,

--- End quote ---

It sounds ridiculous because you can't understand the implications of it. And you don't want to.


--- Quote ---His total work is much more than complex notation,
--- End quote ---

That's why I said that the "notation" helped. You need to improve your text interpretation skills.


--- Quote ---this seems to have been motivated more as a non-mathematical hack (optimisation),
--- End quote ---

What you talking about? Everything is a hack. We are hacking our way through existence since we discovered that chipped stone could be used for cutting tools and weapons.

Did Steinmetz discover a hack to ease the design and analysis of AC circuits? Praised be him. Hacking is what makes us humans, in the first place.


--- Quote ---and both he and Clarke seem not to have given two hoots (for the most part) about the mathematical basis of complex numbers and solutions when using this notation.
--- End quote ---

Why should they? Some mathematician out there must have done that. And that's the beauty of applying math to engineering. You can use it with confidence because it is already proven to be logically sound. That's what math essentially is: language devoid of contradictions.


--- Quote ---Rather like HP's VNA - sqrt(-1) need not exist, because it is optional (I would like to suggest irrelevant) to the meaning of j.
--- End quote ---

Your argument about VNAs not representing (-1)½, or whatever, completely misses the point.

The Smith chart was invented taking into consideration complex numbers. So, if you want to properly understand the meaning of what you're reading on a Smith chart, you need to get into the mind of Phillip Smith, the engineer who invented it. And for that, you'll need to study complex numbers.

You're an engineer, not an hobbyist.

It's as simple as that. This has nothing to do with some kind of dogma, tradition, or whatever, as you like to insinuate.


--- Quote ---And the unavoidable inference that it includes petroleum, solar etc.
--- End quote ---

O yeah, I hook up the fuel hose of my gasoline-powered blender to an outlet on the wall of my kitchen and make a delicious milkshake every morning.

penfold:
So... I remain a little puzzled, seeing as life would be simply impossible without complex numbers... how on earth do we manage to get along with that i-j-k vector stuff and how did that end up getting so popular? It's not like it'd be impossible to have a much more elegant algebraic system, or is it something to do with the physical interpretations of multiple imaginary units that prevented the adoption of such a system?

bsfeechannel:
You, half-baked engineers, are always puzzled, bewildered, perplexed. Any insight is over your heads. If you had spent the time and effort in rejecting the staples of electronics engineering that you employed with this thread in actually learning electromagnetism and complex numbers you'd be standing in awe of how easy it would be to solve all these things that puzzle you.

adx:

--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on April 10, 2022, 01:14:11 pm ---You, half-baked engineers, are always puzzled, bewildered, perplexed. Any insight is over your heads. If you had spent the time and effort in rejecting the staples of electronics engineering that you employed with this thread in actually learning electromagnetism and complex numbers you'd be standing in awe of how easy it would be to solve all these things that puzzle you.

--- End quote ---

I'll buy it, to a degree. Timfox said "Stupidity, however, is being proud of one's ignorance." a page back. I tend to think stupidity is more being unaware of one's ignorance (actually I haven't thought that through properly, but it sounds good). I'd rather be perplexed than ignorant. I'd rather remain perplexed about something kind of trivial (like complex numbers) if it means I can fit concepts of multiple inheritance into my mind if needed for some software job (I don't, don't know what it means and proud of that if I'd be better off "learning complex numbers").

penfold:

--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on April 10, 2022, 01:14:11 pm ---You, half-baked engineers, are always puzzled, bewildered, perplexed. Any insight is over your heads. If you had spent the time and effort in rejecting the staples of electronics engineering that you employed with this thread in actually learning electromagnetism and complex numbers you'd be standing in awe of how easy it would be to solve all these things that puzzle you.

--- End quote ---

Oh yeah, you're right, if only I was clever enough to see where I've been going wrong all these years. Many thanks for pointing that out and I'm very sorry for ever questioning anything. Perhaps you could provide some kind of public service announcement and a set of approved reading materials just to make sure nobody else is having an independent thought.

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