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__rsub__ isn't a hacky workaround. Magic methods are a fundamental part of python's object model. If you think it's hacky, I think you don't grok python.

> If it supported multiple dispatch natively, you'd just define an operator - that took a number on the left and a complex on the right, plot() would call it, and you'd be good.

This doesn't come across as a win to me.

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What happens when it's an operation that doesn't have magic fallback methods like the arithmetic operators do? Say the code is `max(400, n)` instead. Now what? The `max` function doesn't know about your special type, so the code fails. Magic methods simply don't scale: they solve this problem in a few very specific cases and nowhere else. With multiple dispatch, you have a completely general solution to this entire class of problems: you just define a new method of `max` that knows how to handle your new number type and everything works.

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