I had the good fortune that my high-school mathematics teacher introduced complex numbers as “compound numbers”, with two “components” that defined a point on a

I had the good fortune that my high-school mathematics teacher introduced complex numbers as “compound numbers”, with two “components” that defined a point on a plane, one of which was multiplied by a “orthogonal coefficient” that just happened (fabula mirabilis!) to be the square root of minus one that so vexed us when solving certain types of quadratics. Totally nonstandard terminology, but pedagogically very sound approach that was totally at odds with the official syllabus... she just “filled us in” with ‘synonyms’ a while later so that we would not be totally baffled when sitting our exams (the IB). It has served me well ever since.