# Imaginary time?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-time/68262>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 10, 2001, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-time/68262 "2001-06-10T05:06:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PerfectDark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@PerfectDark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerfectDark)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-time/68262/1 "2001-06-10T05:06:20Z")

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Does imaginary time only exist in singularities?

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**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-time/68262/2 "2001-06-10T07:45:23Z")

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Not according to Gene Ray. Heh heh heh.

I’m intrigued by this question. I hope we get a good answer.

–Tim

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2001, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imaginary-time/68262/3 "2001-06-10T08:12:54Z")

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I think its supposed to be a physical incarnation of i, the square root of -1.

Lets say a calculation gives an answer as 2i hours.  
2i squared is -4 hours.

This kind of stuff happens a lot in relativity and quantum mechanics.