[jiggawatts]

It's type confusion caused by duck-typing. Just because can you can add, subtract, multiply, and divide complex numbers doesn't mean they're a natural substitute for real numbers in all scenarios. Sometimes you have '2n' real numbers, not 'n' complex numbers.

If mathematicians designed computer software, their data structures would look like:

    struct Person {
        char name;
        complex name_height;
    }

[eigenspace]

> It's type confusion caused by duck-typing

No it's not. This is such a typical and braindead HN take.

[aleph_minus_one]

> doesn't mean they're a natural substitute for real numbers in all scenarios.

I claimed the exact opposite: whether real or complex numbers as basic objects are more natural depends on the problem that you consider.