That Defining Moment When Math Makes Sense

(We’ve been learning about complex numbers, which have a real and an imaginary part. The night before I hadn’t slept well so I was very sleepy, which is obvious. Nevertheless I have been paying attention, although lack of sleep makes my mind not work very well.)

Teacher: *seeing me sleepy, probably thinking I am not paying attention* “[My Name]! Tell me what the two parts of this number are.”

Me: *seeing that he’s written “5+3i” on the board* “Well, 5 is the real part, and 3 the–” *thinking “opposite of real”* “–fake one.”

(Everyone turns to look at me.)

Teacher: *laughing* “Don’t be so lax with definitions!”