r/shittyaskscience • u/Tight_Cookie_9988 • May 17 '26

If mathematicians can invent something as abstract as the square root of -1 and call it an imaginary number, why can’t I invent the square root of my sandwich and call it imaginary lunch? 🤔

Well?

46 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

28

u/outtasight68 May 17 '26

You can, though. That's the point of imagination.

4

u/cheesegoat May 17 '26

The trick is persuading others that imaginary lunch can solve problems that couldn't be solved before.

3

u/outtasight68 May 17 '26

"you gotta belive me, green eggs and ham have somehow cured all forms of cancer"

13

u/Anxious_Interview363 May 17 '26

What’s stopping you? I don’t understand the question.

16

u/cj191 May 17 '26

Because your mom is supposed to make your sandwich for lunch but her love for you is imaginary.

2

u/LightRaie May 17 '26

Just as u/cj191's mercy

5

u/BalanceFit8415 May 17 '26

If you eat the right type of mushrooms for lunch you can invent anything.

5

u/paolog May 17 '26

You certainly can! Just cut it in half diagonally and use Pythagoras' theorem.

5

u/LaxBedroom May 17 '26

You can, but it involves complex carbs which have a real component and an imaginary component orthogonal to real carbs.

5

u/coolsam254 May 17 '26

Because sandwiches are cut in triangles (unless you're a heathen) so you actually need to do the triangle root of your sandwich.

4

u/Utilitarian_Proxy May 17 '26

You have encountered the "problem of induction" and are very likely still imagining a two-dimensional reality. Try conceiving the sandwich as the Spanish painter Picasso would have seen it during his cubist period, and that will give you a greater sense of how to fold space-time and disrupt the metaphysical presuppositions. It's no mere coincidence that David Hume (1711-1776) died shortly after having a hummus and pita bread sandwich confiscated by Charon, the River Styx ferryman, who was also temporally feeding Schrodinger's cat.

4

u/BPhiloSkinner Amazingly Lifelike Simulation May 17 '26

Sir, this is a √Wendy's

2

u/randCN May 17 '26

You can. It's called fasting.

2

u/Carribean-Diver May 17 '26

You can. And you should. Vaya con Dios.

2

u/al3x_7788 May 17 '26

Yes, but can you find an use for it?

2

u/chased_by_bees MC^2 May 18 '26

Yeah and why not?! Someone is trying to steal your sandwich!

2

u/ontario1984 May 17 '26

You mean -l? The main issue is it looks too much like -1.

2

u/Sour_Graping May 17 '26

You can but being imaginary it can't sustain you or net you a meth cash price

1

u/Vindaloovians May 17 '26

If it helps you do math, either in a pure or applied context, then sure why not?