diff --git a/src/Complex/all.ts b/src/Complex/all.ts
index 9d417b8..f5369ec 100644
--- a/src/Complex/all.ts
+++ b/src/Complex/all.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 import {ForType} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+import {ComplexReturn} from './type.js'
 import * as Complex from './native.js'
 
 export {Complex}
 
 declare module "../core/Dispatcher" {
-   interface ImplementationTypes extends ForType<'Complex', typeof Complex> {}
+   interface ReturnTypes<Params>
+      extends ForType<'Complex', ComplexReturn<Params>> {}
 }
diff --git a/src/Complex/arithmetic.ts b/src/Complex/arithmetic.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8fc32fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Complex/arithmetic.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+import {Complex, UnderlyingReal, complex_binary} from './type.js'
+import {
+   BBinary, Dependency, ConservativeUnary, ConservativeBinary, ImpType
+} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+
+declare module "./type" {
+   interface ComplexReturn<Params> {
+      add: ConservativeBinary<Params, Complex<any>>
+      addReal: Params extends [infer Z, infer R]
+         ? [R] extends [UnderlyingReal<Z>] ? Z : never
+         : never
+      unaryMinus: ConservativeUnary<Params, Complex<any>>
+      conj: ConservativeUnary<Params, Complex<any>>
+      subtract: ConservativeBinary<Params, Complex<any>>
+      multiply: ConservativeBinary<Params, Complex<any>>
+      absquare: Params extends [infer Z]
+         ? Z extends Complex<any> ? UnderlyingReal<Z> : never
+         : never
+      reciprocal: ConservativeUnary<Params, Complex<any>>
+      divide: ConservativeBinary<Params, Complex<any>>
+      divideByReal: Params extends [infer Z, infer R]
+         ? [R] extends [UnderlyingReal<Z>] ? Z : never
+         : never
+      // square root that remains the same type
+      conservativeSqrt: ConservativeUnary<Params, Complex<any>>
+      // Same as conservativeSqrt for complex numbers:
+      sqrt: ConservativeUnary<Params, Complex<any>>
+
+      // complex square root of the real type of a complex:
+      complexSqrt: Params extends [infer T] ? Complex<T> : never
+   }
+}
+
+export const add =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'add', [T,T]>):
+      ImpType<'add', [Complex<T>, Complex<T>]> =>
+   (w, z) => complex_binary(dep.add(w.re, z.re), dep.add(w.im, z.im))
+
+export const addReal =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'addReal', [T, UnderlyingReal<T>]>):
+      ImpType<'addReal', [Complex<T>, UnderlyingReal<T>]> =>
+   (z, r) => complex_binary(dep.addReal(z.re, r), z.im)
+
+export const unaryMinus =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'unaryMinus', [T]>):
+      ImpType<'unaryMinus', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => complex_binary(dep.unaryMinus(z.re), dep.unaryMinus(z.im))
+
+export const conj =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'unaryMinus'|'conj', [T]>):
+      ImpType<'conj', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => complex_binary(dep.conj(z.re), dep.unaryMinus(z.im))
+
+export const subtract =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'subtract', [T,T]>):
+      ImpType<'subtract', [Complex<T>, Complex<T>]> =>
+   (w, z) => complex_binary(dep.subtract(w.re, z.re), dep.subtract(w.im, z.im))
+
+export const multiply =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'add', [T,T]>
+       & Dependency<'subtract', [T,T]>
+       & Dependency<'multiply', [T,T]>
+       & Dependency<'conj', [T]>):
+      ImpType<'multiply', [Complex<T>, Complex<T>]> =>
+   (w, z) => {
+      const mult = dep.multiply
+      const realpart = dep.subtract(
+         mult(         w.re,  z.re), mult(dep.conj(w.im), z.im))
+      const imagpart = dep.add(
+         mult(dep.conj(w.re), z.im), mult(         w.im,  z.re))
+      return complex_binary(realpart, imagpart)
+   }
+
+export const absquare =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'absquare', [T]>
+       & Dependency<'add', BBinary<UnderlyingReal<T>>>):
+      ImpType<'absquare', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => dep.add(dep.absquare(z.re), dep.absquare(z.im))
+
+export const divideByReal =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'divideByReal', [T, UnderlyingReal<T>]>):
+      ImpType<'divideByReal', [Complex<T>, UnderlyingReal<T>]> =>
+   (z, r) => complex_binary(
+      dep.divideByReal(z.re, r), dep.divideByReal(z.im, r))
+
+export const reciprocal =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'conj', [Complex<T>]>
+       & Dependency<'absquare', [Complex<T>]>
+       & Dependency<'divideByReal', [Complex<T>, UnderlyingReal<T>]>):
+      ImpType<'reciprocal', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => dep.divideByReal(dep.conj(z), dep.absquare(z))
+
+export const divide =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'multiply', [Complex<T>, Complex<T>]>
+       & Dependency<'reciprocal', [Complex<T>]>):
+      ImpType<'divide', [Complex<T>, Complex<T>]> =>
+   (w, z) => dep.multiply(w, dep.reciprocal(z))
+
+export const complexSqrt =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'conservativeSqrt', [T]>
+       & Dependency<'isSquare', [T]>
+       & Dependency<'complex', [T]>
+       & Dependency<'unaryMinus', [T]>
+       & Dependency<'zero', [T]>
+       & Dependency<'nan', [Complex<T>]>): ImpType<'complexSqrt', [T]> =>
+   r => {
+      if (dep.isSquare(r)) return dep.complex(dep.conservativeSqrt(r))
+      const negative = dep.unaryMinus(r)
+      if (dep.isSquare(negative)) {
+         return complex_binary(
+            dep.zero(r), dep.conservativeSqrt(negative))
+      }
+      // neither the real number or its negative is a square; could happen
+      // for example with bigint. So there is no square root. So we have to
+      // return the NaN of the type.
+      return dep.nan(dep.complex(r))
+   }
+
+export const sqrt =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'isReal', [Complex<T>]>
+       & Dependency<'complexSqrt', [T]>
+       & Dependency<'absquare', [Complex<T>]>
+       & Dependency<'conservativeSqrt', [UnderlyingReal<T>]>
+       & Dependency<'addReal', [Complex<T>,UnderlyingReal<T>]>
+       & Dependency<'re', [Complex<T>]>
+       & Dependency<'add', [UnderlyingReal<T>,UnderlyingReal<T>]>
+       & Dependency<'divideByReal', [Complex<T>,UnderlyingReal<T>]>
+      ): ImpType<'sqrt', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => {
+      if (dep.isReal(z)) return dep.complexSqrt(z.re)
+      const myabs = dep.conservativeSqrt(dep.absquare(z))
+      const num = dep.addReal(z, myabs)
+      const r = dep.re(z)
+      const denomsq = dep.add(dep.add(myabs, myabs), dep.add(r, r))
+      const denom = dep.conservativeSqrt(denomsq)
+      return dep.divideByReal(num, denom)
+   }
+
+export const conservativeSqrt = sqrt
diff --git a/src/Complex/predicate.ts b/src/Complex/predicate.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eafc5ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Complex/predicate.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import {Complex} from './type.js'
+import {Signature, Dependency, ImpType} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+
+declare module "./type" {
+   interface ComplexReturn<Params> {
+      isReal: Signature<Params, [Complex<any>], boolean>
+      isSquare: Signature<Params, [Complex<any>], boolean>
+   }
+}
+
+export const isReal =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'equal', [T,T]>
+       & Dependency<'add', [T,T]>
+       & Dependency<'isReal', [T]>
+      ): ImpType<'isReal', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => dep.isReal(z.re) && dep.equal(z.re, dep.add(z.re, z.im))
+
+export const isSquare: ImpType<'isSquare', [Complex<any>]> =
+   z => true // FIXME: not correct for Complex<bigint> once we get there
diff --git a/src/Complex/relational.ts b/src/Complex/relational.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a57dc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Complex/relational.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import {Complex} from './type.js'
+import {BBinary, ImpType, Dependency} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+
+declare module "./type" {
+   interface ComplexReturn<Params> {
+      equal: Params extends BBinary<infer B>
+         ? B extends Complex<any> ? boolean : never
+         : never
+   }
+}
+
+export const equal =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'equal', [T,T]>):
+      ImpType<'equal', [Complex<T>, Complex<T>]> =>
+   (w, z) => dep.equal(w.re, z.re) && dep.equal(w.im, z.im)
diff --git a/src/Complex/type.ts b/src/Complex/type.ts
index affbedc..36c040a 100644
--- a/src/Complex/type.ts
+++ b/src/Complex/type.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
-import {joinTypes, typeOfDependency, Dependency} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+import {
+   joinTypes, typeOfDependency, Dependency, BBinary, ImpType, ImpReturns
+} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
 
 export type Complex<T> = {re: T; im: T;}
 
+export type UnderlyingReal<T> =
+   T extends Complex<infer U> ? UnderlyingReal<U> : T
+
 export const Complex_type = {
    test: <T>(dep: {testT: (z: unknown) => z is T}) =>
       (z: unknown): z is Complex<T> =>
@@ -17,6 +22,66 @@ export const Complex_type = {
    }
 }
 
-export const complex_unary = <T>(dep: Dependency<'zero', [T]>) =>
-   (t: T) => ({re: t, im: dep.zero(t)})
-export const complex_binary = <T>(t: T, u: T) => ({re: t, im: u})
+export interface ComplexReturn<Params> {
+   // Sadly, I can't think of a way to make some nice abbreviation operators
+   // for these generic type specifications because TypeScript generics
+   // can't take and use generic parameters, only fully instantiated types.
+   complex: Params extends [infer U] ? Complex<U> // unary case
+      : Params extends BBinary<infer B> ? Complex<B> // binary case
+      : never
+
+   // alternatively if it seems better; each definition is simpler, but at
+   // the cost of having two keys here:
+   // complex_unary: Params extends [infer R] ? Complex<R> : never
+   // complex_binary: Params extends BBinary<infer R> ? Complex<R> : never
+
+   // There is actually a subtlety here that complex_unary really only works
+   // on real types that include their own zero value, so it should really be
+   // complex_unary: Params extends [infer R]
+   //    ? ImpReturns<'zero', [R]> extends R ? Complex<R> : never
+   //    : never
+   // and that might actually simplify some of the typings of other operations,
+   // but we'll leave such fine tuning til later, if we adopt this scheme
+
+   zero: Params extends [infer Z] // unary
+      ? Z extends Complex<infer T> // of a Complex parameter
+         ? ImpReturns<'zero', T> extends T ? Z : never // that has its real 0
+         : never
+      : never
+   one: Params extends [infer Z] // unary
+      ? Z extends Complex<infer T> // of a Complex parameter
+         ? ImpReturns<'one'|'zero', T> extends T ? Z : never // has real 1, 0
+         : never
+      : never
+   nan: Params extends [infer Z] // unary
+      ? Z extends Complex<infer T> // of a Complex parameter
+         ? ImpReturns<'nan', T> extends T ? Z : never // has real NaN
+         : never
+      : never
+   re: Params extends [infer Z]
+      ? Z extends Complex<infer T> ? UnderlyingReal<T> : never
+      : never
+}
+
+export const complex_unary =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'zero', [T]>): ImpType<'complex', [T]> =>
+   t => ({re: t, im: dep.zero(t)})
+export const complex_binary = <T>(t: T, u: T): ImpReturns<'complex', [T,T]> =>
+   ({re: t, im: u})
+
+export const zero =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'zero', [T]>): ImpType<'zero', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => complex_binary(dep.zero(z.re), dep.zero(z.im))
+
+export const one =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'zero' | 'one', [T]>): ImpType<'one', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => // Must provide parameter T, else TS narrows to return type of dep.one
+   complex_binary<T>(dep.one(z.re), dep.zero(z.im))
+
+export const nan =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'nan', [T]>): ImpType<'nan', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => complex_binary(dep.nan(z.re), dep.nan(z.im))
+
+export const re =
+   <T>(dep: Dependency<'re', [T]>): ImpType<'re', [Complex<T>]> =>
+   z => dep.re(z.re)
diff --git a/src/all.ts b/src/all.ts
index 192c7be..e2e83f1 100644
--- a/src/all.ts
+++ b/src/all.ts
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 export * from './numbers/all.js'
 export * from './Complex/all.js'
+export * from './generic/all.js'
diff --git a/src/core/Config.ts b/src/core/Config.ts
index 3765328..c1eb24c 100644
--- a/src/core/Config.ts
+++ b/src/core/Config.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 export type Config = {
+   epsilon: number
    predictable: boolean
 }
 
diff --git a/src/core/Dispatcher.ts b/src/core/Dispatcher.ts
index bed8f0d..aa4c6a9 100644
--- a/src/core/Dispatcher.ts
+++ b/src/core/Dispatcher.ts
@@ -9,15 +9,85 @@
 
 type TypeName = string
 type Parameter = TypeName
-type Signature = Parameter[]
+type InputSignature = Parameter[]
+type DependenciesType = Record<string, Function>
 
-export interface ImplementationTypes {}
 export type typeOfDependency = {typeOf: (x: unknown) => TypeName}
 
-// Helper for collecting implementations
-// (Really just suffixes the type name onto the keys of exports)
-export type ForType<T extends string, Exports> = keyof Exports extends string
-   ? {[K in keyof Exports as `${K}_${T}`]: Exports[K]}
+// All of the implementations must publish descriptions of their
+// return types into the following interface, using the format
+// described just below:
+export interface ReturnTypes<Params> {}
+
+/*****
+   To describe one implementation for a hypothetical operation `foo`, there
+   should be a property of the interface whose name starts with `foo` and whose
+   next character, if any, is an underscore. The type of this property
+   must be the return type of that implementation when Params matches the
+   parameter types of the implementation, and `never` otherwise.
+   Thus to describe an implementation that takes a number and a string and
+   returns a boolean, for example, you could write
+   ```
+   declare module "Dispatcher" {
+      interface ReturnTypes<Params> {
+         foo_example: Params extends [number, string] ? boolean : never
+      }
+   }
+   ```
+   If there is another, generic implementation that takes one argument
+   of any type and returns a Vector of that type, you can say
+   ```
+   ...
+      foo_generic: Params extends [infer T] ? Vector<T> : never
+   ...
+   ```
+   In practice, each subdirectory corresponding to a type, like Complex,
+   defines an interface, like `ComplexReturn<Params>` for the implementations
+   in that subdirectory, which can mostly be defined without suffixes because
+   there's typically just a single implementation within that domain.
+   Then the module responsible for collating all of the implementations for
+   that type inserts all of the properties of that interface into `ReturnTypes`
+   suitably suffixed to avoid collisions.
+
+   One might think that simply defining an implementation for `foo`
+   of type `(n: number, s: string) => boolean` would provide all of the same
+   information as the type of the key `foo_example` in the ReturnTypes
+   interface above, but in practice TypeScript has challenges in extracting
+   types relating to functions. (In particular, there is no
+   way to get the specialized return type of a generic function when it is
+   called on aguments whose specific types match the generic parameters.)
+   Hence the need for this additional mechanism to specify return types, in
+   a way readily suited for TypeScript type computations.
+*****/
+
+// Helpers for specifying signatures
+
+// A basic signature with concrete types
+export type Signature<CandidateParams, ActualParams, Returns> =
+   CandidateParams extends ActualParams ? Returns : never
+
+// A homogeneous binary parameter tuple (comes up a lot, needs a better name?)
+// Typical usage: `foo_impl: Params extends BBinary<infer B> ? B : never`
+// says that this implementation takes two arguments, both of type B, and
+// returns the same type.
+export type BBinary<B> = [B, B]
+
+// A unary signature that preserves the type of its argument, which must
+// extend the given Bound:
+export type ConservativeUnary<CandidateParams, Bound> =
+   CandidateParams extends [infer T] ? T extends Bound ? T : never : never
+
+// A homogeneous binary signature that preserves the common type of its
+// arguments, which must extend the given Bound:
+export type ConservativeBinary<CandidateParams, Bound> =
+   CandidateParams extends BBinary<infer B>
+      ? B extends Bound ? B : never
+      : never
+
+// Helper for collecting return types
+// (Really just adds the literal string Suffix onto the keys of interface IFace)
+export type ForType<Suffix extends string, IFace> = keyof IFace extends string
+   ? {[K in keyof IFace as `${K}_${Suffix}`]: IFace[K]}
    : never
 
 //dummy implementation for now
@@ -26,27 +96,27 @@ export function joinTypes(a: TypeName, b: TypeName) {
    return 'any'
 }
 
-/**
- * Build up to Dependency type lookup
- */
-type DependenciesType = Record<string, Function>
+// Used to filter keys that match a given operation name
+type BeginsWith<Name extends string> = Name | `${Name}_${string}`
 
-type FinalShape<FuncType> =
-   FuncType extends (arg: DependenciesType) => Function
-   ? ReturnType<FuncType> : FuncType
+// Look up the return type of an implementation based on its name
+// and the parameters it takes
+export type ImpReturns<Name extends string, Params> =
+   {[K in keyof ReturnTypes<Params>]: K extends BeginsWith<Name>
+    ? ReturnTypes<Params>[K] : never}[keyof ReturnTypes<Params>]
 
-type BeginsWith<Name extends string> = `${Name}${string}`
-
-type DependencyTypes<Ob, Name extends string, Params extends unknown[]> =
-   {[K in keyof Ob]: K extends BeginsWith<Name>
-    ? FinalShape<Ob[K]> extends (...args: Params) => any
-      ? FinalShape<Ob[K]>
-      : never
-    : never}
+// The type of an implementation (with dependencies satisfied,
+// based on its name and the parameters it takes
+export type ImpType<Name extends string, Params extends unknown[]> =
+   (...args: Params) => ImpReturns<Name, Params>
 
+// The type of a dependency on an implementation based on its name
+// and the parameters it takes (just a simple object with one property
+// named the same as the operation, of value type equal to the type of
+// that implementation. These can be `&`ed together in case of multiple
+// dependencies:
 export type Dependency<Name extends string, Params extends unknown[]> =
-   {[N in Name]:
-    DependencyTypes<ImplementationTypes, N, Params>[keyof ImplementationTypes]}
+   {[N in Name]: ImpType<N, Params>}
 
 // Now types used in the Dispatcher class itself
 
@@ -64,9 +134,9 @@ type SpecificationsGroup = Record<string, SpecObject>
 export class Dispatcher {
    installSpecification(
       name: string,
-      signature: Signature,
+      signature: InputSignature,
       returns: TypeName,
-      dependencies: Record<string, Signature>,
+      dependencies: Record<string, InputSignature>,
       behavior: Function // possible todo: constrain this type based
       // on the signature, return type, and dependencies. Not sure if
       // that's really possible, though.
diff --git a/src/generic/all.ts b/src/generic/all.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a008ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/generic/all.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import { ForType } from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+import { GenericReturn } from './type.js'
+import * as generic from './arithmetic.js'
+
+export { generic }
+
+declare module "../core/Dispatcher" {
+   interface ReturnTypes<Params>
+      extends ForType<'generic', GenericReturn<Params>> { }
+}
diff --git a/src/generic/arithmetic.ts b/src/generic/arithmetic.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46d6922
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/generic/arithmetic.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import {Dependency, ImpType, ImpReturns} from "../core/Dispatcher";
+
+declare module "./type" {
+  interface GenericReturn<Params> {
+    // Jos: not sure how to define this or why it is needed
+    // square: Signature<Params, [T], T>
+    // square: ConservativeUnary<Params, T>
+    // square: Params extends [infer R]
+    //   ? R extends number ? UnderlyingReal<R> : never
+    //    : never
+
+    // The type of `square` in this interface, instantiated with the type
+    // Params of a parameter list, needs to be the return type of the
+    // operation `square` on those parameters. In other words, `square` gives
+    // a type transformer from the tuple type of its parameters to its return
+    // type.
+    // That's how Dispatcher knows what the return type will be in
+    // `Dependency<'square', [bigint]>`, for example: it instantiates
+    // GenericReturn with Params equal to [bigint] and then grabs the
+    // type of the `square` property. Hence we write:
+
+    square: Params extends [infer T] // square only takes 1 arbitrary parameter
+        ? ImpReturns<'multiply', [T, T]> // and returns whatever multiply does
+        : never; // otherwise if not a single argument, this implementation
+                 // doesn't handle it
+
+    // If square had more than one implementation in this collection, we could
+    // either add more conditional clauses to the above type transformer
+    // as I did in Complex/type.ts for `complex`, or we could have two
+    // different keys that both start with `square_` and Dispatcher will
+    // check both (as I have now done in comments in Complex/type.ts and
+    // verified that also works).
+  }
+}
+
+export const square =
+  <T>(dep: Dependency<'multiply', [T, T]>):
+    ImpType<'square', [T]> =>
+    z => dep.multiply(z, z)
diff --git a/src/generic/type.ts b/src/generic/type.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8589417
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/generic/type.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export interface GenericReturn<Params> {
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/numbers/all.ts b/src/numbers/all.ts
index 5aea220..b034f25 100644
--- a/src/numbers/all.ts
+++ b/src/numbers/all.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 import {ForType} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+import {NumbersReturn} from './type.js'
 import * as numbers from './native.js'
 
 export {numbers}
 
 declare module "../core/Dispatcher" {
-   interface ImplementationTypes extends ForType<'numbers', typeof numbers> {}
+   interface ReturnTypes<Params>
+      extends ForType<'numbers', NumbersReturn<Params>> {}
 }
diff --git a/src/numbers/arithmetic.ts b/src/numbers/arithmetic.ts
index e78d9ec..b02b09f 100644
--- a/src/numbers/arithmetic.ts
+++ b/src/numbers/arithmetic.ts
@@ -1,18 +1,70 @@
 import {configDependency} from '../core/Config.js'
-import {Dependency} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+import {
+   Signature, ConservativeBinary, ConservativeUnary, Dependency, ImpType
+} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+import type {Complex, UnderlyingReal} from '../Complex/type.js'
+
+declare module "./type" {
+   interface NumbersReturn<Params> {
+      // This description loses information: some subtypes like NumInt or
+      // Positive are closed under addition, but this says that the result
+      // of add is just a number, not still of the reduced type
+      // add: Signature<Params, [number, number], number>
+
+      // Whereas this one preserves information, but lies
+      // because it claims all subtypes of number are closed under addition,
+      // which is not true for `1 | 2 | 3`, for example. But because in
+      // generics that use add we often need to assign the result of add
+      // to something of the exact generic type, generics using add won't
+      // compile unless we lie in this way and assert that add returns
+      // the subtype.
+      add: ConservativeBinary<Params, number>
+      // Not sure how this will need to go when we introduce NumInt.
+
+      addReal: Params extends [infer R, infer S]
+         ? R extends number ? S extends R ? R : never : never
+         : never
+      unaryMinus: ConservativeUnary<Params, number>
+      conj: ConservativeUnary<Params, number>
+      subtract: ConservativeBinary<Params, number>
+      multiply: ConservativeBinary<Params, number>
+      absquare: Params extends [infer R]
+         ? R extends number ? UnderlyingReal<R> : never
+         : never
+      reciprocal: ConservativeUnary<Params, number>
+      divide: ConservativeBinary<Params, number>
+      divideByReal: Params extends [infer R, infer S]
+         ? R extends number ? S extends R ? R : never : never
+         : never
+      // best square root that remains the same type
+      conservativeSqrt: ConservativeUnary<Params, number>
+      // Best we can do for sqrt at compile time, since actual return
+      // type depends on config. Not sure how this will play out
+      // when we make a number-only bundle, but at least the import type
+      // above for Complex<> does not lead to any emitted JavaScript.
+      sqrt: Signature<Params, [number], number | Complex<number>>
+   }
+}
+
+export const add: ImpType<'add', [number, number]> = (a, b) => a + b
+export const addReal = add
+export const unaryMinus: ImpType<'unaryMinus', [number]> = a => -a
+export const conj: ImpType<'conj', [number]> = a => a
+export const subtract: ImpType<'subtract', [number, number]> = (a, b) => a - b
+export const multiply: ImpType<'multiply', [number, number]> = (a, b) => a * b
+export const absquare: ImpType<'absquare', [number]> = a => a*a
+export const reciprocal: ImpType<'reciprocal', [number]> = a => 1/a
+export const divide: ImpType<'divide', [number, number]> = (a, b) => a / b
+export const divideByReal: ImpType<'divideByReal', [number, number]> = divide
+
+export const conservativeSqrt: ImpType<'conservativeSqrt', [number]> =
+   a => isNaN(a) ? NaN : Math.sqrt(a)
 
-export const add = (a: number, b: number) => a + b
-export const unaryMinus = (a: number) => -a
-export const subtract = (a: number, b: number) => a - b
-export const multiply = (a: number, b: number) => a * b
-export const divide = (a: number, b: number) => a / b
 export const sqrt =
    (dep: configDependency
-    & Dependency<'complex', [number, number]>) => {
-       if (dep.config.predictable || !dep.complex) {
-          return (a: number) => isNaN(a) ? NaN : Math.sqrt(a)
-       }
-       return (a: number) => {
+    & Dependency<'complex', [number, number]>): ImpType<'sqrt', [number]> => {
+       if (dep.config.predictable || !dep.complex) return conservativeSqrt
+       return a => {
           if (isNaN(a)) return NaN
           if (a >= 0) return Math.sqrt(a)
           return dep.complex(0, Math.sqrt(unaryMinus(a)))
diff --git a/src/numbers/predicate.ts b/src/numbers/predicate.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b8cc4c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/numbers/predicate.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import {Signature, ImpType} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+
+declare module "./type" {
+   interface NumbersReturn<Params> {
+      isReal: Signature<Params, [number], true>
+      isSquare: Signature<Params, [number], boolean>
+   }
+}
+
+export const isReal: ImpType<'isReal', [number]> = a => true
+export const isSquare: ImpType<'isSquare', [number]> = a => a >= 0
diff --git a/src/numbers/relational.ts b/src/numbers/relational.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51d7e07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/numbers/relational.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import {configDependency} from '../core/Config.js'
+import {Signature, ImpType, Dependency} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+
+const DBL_EPSILON = Number.EPSILON || 2.2204460492503130808472633361816E-16
+
+declare module "./type" {
+   interface NumbersReturn<Params> {
+      equal: Signature<Params, [number, number], boolean>
+      unequal: Signature<Params, [number, number], boolean>
+   }
+}
+
+export const equal =
+   (dep: configDependency): ImpType<'equal', [number, number]> =>
+      (x, y) => {
+         const eps = dep.config.epsilon
+         if (eps === null || eps === undefined) return x === y
+         if (x === y) return true
+         if (isNaN(x) || isNaN(y)) return false
+
+         if (isFinite(x) && isFinite(y)) {
+            const diff = Math.abs(x - y)
+            if (diff < DBL_EPSILON) return true
+            return diff <= Math.max(Math.abs(x), Math.abs(y)) * eps
+         }
+
+         return false
+      }
+
+export const unequal = (dep: Dependency<'equal', [number, number]>):
+   ImpType<'unequal', [number, number]> =>
+   (x, y) => {
+      return !dep.equal(x, y)
+   }
diff --git a/src/numbers/type.ts b/src/numbers/type.ts
index 67dbd29..46971fc 100644
--- a/src/numbers/type.ts
+++ b/src/numbers/type.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,44 @@
+import {ImpType} from '../core/Dispatcher.js'
+import type {UnderlyingReal} from '../Complex/type.js'
+
 export const number_type = {
    before: ['Complex'],
    test: (n: unknown): n is number => typeof n === 'number',
    from: {string: s => +s}
 }
 
-export const zero = (a: number) => 0
+
+export interface NumbersReturn<Params> {
+   // The following description of the return type of `zero` on a single
+   // number argument has ended up unfortunately rather complicated. However,
+   // it illustrates the typing is really working: Suppose we have a
+   // `type Small = 1 | 2 | 3`. Then Small indeed extends number, but we
+   // can't use the operation `zero(s: Small)` because zero is supposed to
+   // return something of the same type as its argument, but there is no
+   // zero in Small. Anyhow, in plain language the below says that given
+   // one parameter of a subtype of number, as long as that subtype includes 0,
+   // the zero operation returns a member of the type `0` (so we know even
+   // at compile time that its value will be 0).
+   zero: Params extends [infer T]
+      ? T extends number ? 0 extends T ? 0 : never : never
+      : never
+   // Note that in any case the simple
+   // zero: Signature<Params, [number], 0>
+   // makes complex fail to compile, because it worries that you might be
+   // making `Complex<Small>` where zero would not return the right type.
+
+   one: Params extends [infer T]
+      ? T extends number ? 1 extends T ? 1 : never : never
+      : never
+   nan: Params extends [infer T]
+      ? T extends number ? typeof NaN extends T ? typeof NaN : never : never
+      : never
+   re: Params extends [infer T]
+      ? T extends number ? UnderlyingReal<T> : never
+      : never
+}
+
+export const zero: ImpType<'zero', [number]> = a => 0
+export const one:  ImpType<'one',  [number]> = a => 1
+export const nan:  ImpType<'nan',  [number]> = a => NaN
+export const re:   ImpType<'re',   [number]> = a => a