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The other side of that same coin is that we're describing wave functions of probability (with interference between probabilities) and complex numbers are excee
by dreamcompiler 5y ago
The other side of that same coin is that we're describing wave functions of probability (with interference between probabilities) and complex numbers are exceedingly handy for wave functions, as any EE can attest.
- phkahler 5y ago>> complex numbers are exceedingly handy for wave functions, as any EE can attest. Because they encode phase information. Also because they come about in the solution of differential equations. Physicists often talk about amplitudes, but I never hear them talk about phase. There was one paper that I can't find, complete with a diagram that suggested (to me) that phase was determining quite a bit.
- kgwgk 5y agoA wave function describes - usually at least - the quantum state of an isolated quantum system. The phase has no physical meaning. The relative phase between wave functions could mean something... but not if the systems are isolated.
- dreamcompiler 5y agoPhase doesn't really matter much in EE for an isolated sinusoid either. But when you compare the phase of a transmitted signal to a local reference, or you compare the phases of the sinusoids in an FFT to one another, or you're trying to synchronize the Texas electrical grid to the rest of the country, phase means a lot. Phases are almost always only useful in a relative sense.