That's the Euler Formula at work:
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/EulerFormula.htmle^ix = cos x + i sin x
And he's quoting a special case of the Euler Formula where x = pi, and since sin pi=0, you get e^i*pi = cos pi = -1.
(Yeah, I had to look this up somewhat.)
--LAN3 Sun, 19 Dec 2004 19:18:24 +0000
e^(pi*i) = -1 is one of my math professor's favorite equation, probably why he teaches Complex Analysis...I'm not really looking forward to that class next semester.
--Candi Mon, 20 Dec 2004 04:08:50 +0000
I haven't even read past the first sentence, and I run into esoteria. Amazing!
--Mr. Lex Mon, 20 Dec 2004 15:35:59 +0000
That 'whoosh' was the sound of the highway over my head.
But this IS interesting!
--kluless Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:57:09 +0000