A New Perspective on Numbers: Could Negative and Imaginary Numbers Be the True Foundation?

Mathematics is the language of the universe. But what if we’ve been looking at numbers the wrong way? We usually see positive numbers as "natural" and everything else as derived from them. But what if negative numbers and imaginary numbers were the true fundamental values, and positive numbers emerged from them?

A Thought Experiment: Can We Derive Numbers Differently?

One day, while solving math problems, I started thinking about the basic numbers: +1, 0, and -1. We use these as fundamental building blocks, but I noticed something interesting: You cannot create -1 or 0 using only two +1s with basic math operations (+, ×, ÷). But you can create +1 and 0 using two -1s:
(-1) × (-1) = +1
(-1) + (+1) = 0
This made me question, what if negative numbers existed first, and positive numbers emerged from them?

Digging Deeper: Where Does -1 Come From?

If negative values are the original ones, what is their source? In mathematics, the number -1 is closely related to the imaginary number 𝑖, where:

This means that -1 is derived from 𝑖, an imaginary number. But if imaginary numbers exist purely in theory, does this suggest that the foundation of reality itself is built upon something imaginary?

A Possible Interpretation: Numbers as the Universe’s Blueprint

If we extend this number theory to physics, it could hint at a new way to think about the universe's origins. Could the universe have emerged from an "imaginary" state of existence, where reality is built upon a hidden structure of negative and imaginary values?

I am exploring this idea further, linking it to how energy and mass might emerge in a way similar to how numbers do. This is just a hypothesis, but it opens a doorway to thinking differently about the foundations of reality.

Final Thoughts: Why This Matters

Mathematics has always shaped our understanding of the universe. From quantum mechanics to general relativity, new perspectives in numbers often lead to groundbreaking discoveries in physics. If negative and imaginary numbers are more fundamental than we thought, perhaps we are missing a deeper structure underlying existence itself.

This post sets the foundation for my next one, where I’ll explore how this number theory connects to a new perspective on the universe’s origin. Stay tuned! This is published as a formal paper. Read it here: A Number Based Hypothesis for the Origin of the Universe