# Why can't imaginary numbers be irrational?

Hailee Stout 2022-05-13 Answered
Why can't imaginary numbers be irrational?
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## Answers (1)

hi3c4a2nvrgzb
Answered 2022-05-14 Author has 15 answers
If you defined irrational numbers as $\mathbb{C}\setminus \mathbb{Q}$ rather than $\mathbb{R}\setminus \mathbb{Q}$, then you would be in the uncomfortable position of calling both $i+1$ and $\sqrt{2}+\pi i$ irrational, even though the first looks almost like a rational, even an integer, whereas the second looks more like what we expect from an irrational.
Instead, it's cleaner to define Gaussian rationals as those complex numbers $a+bi$ where both $a$ and $b$ are rational. So the first example above is a Gaussian rational (in fact a Gaussian integer), whereas the second is not.
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