COMPLEX NUMBERS TUTORIAL

Complex Numbers
A complex number is made up of both real and imaginary components. It can be represented
by an expression of the form (a+bi), where a and b are real numbers and i is imaginary.
When defining i we say that i = . Then we can think of i
2
as -1. In general, if c is any
positive number, we would write:
.
If we have a complex number z, where z=a+bi then a would be the real component
(denoted: Re z) and b would represent the imaginary component of z (denoted Im z). Thus
the real component of z=4+3i is 4 and the imaginary component would be 3. From this, it is
obvious that two complex numbers (a+bi) and (c+di) are equal if and only if a=c and b=d,
that is, the real and imaginary components are equal.
The complex number (a+bi) can also be represented by the ordered pair (a,b) and plotted on
a special plane called the complex plane or the Argand Plane. On the Argand Plane the
horizontal axis is called the real axis and the vertical axis is called the imaginary axis. This is
shown inFigure 1 on the right:


Properties of the Complex Set
The set of complex numbers is denoted . Just like any other number set there are rules of
operation.

The sum and difference of complex numbers is defined by adding or subtracting their real
components ie:

The communitive and distributive properties hold for the product of complex numbers ie:

When dividing two complex numbers you are basically rationalizing the denominator of a
rational expression. If we have a complex number defined as z =a+bi then the conjuate
would be . See the following example:
Example:


Conjugates
The geometric inperpretation of a complex conjugate is the reflection along the real axis. This
can be seen in the figure below where z = a+bi is a complex number. Listed below are also
several properties of conjugates.

Properties:




Absolue Value/Modulus
The distance from the origin to any complex number is the absolute value or modulus.
Looking at the figure below we can see that Pythagoras' Theorem gives us a formula to
calculate the absolute value of a complex number z = a+bi



And from this we get:

This explains why rationalizing the denominator using conjugates works in general for complex
quotients.

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There are also some properties of absolute values dealing with complex numbers. These are:


Polar Form
Along with being able to be represented as a point (a,b) on a graph, a complex number z =
a+bi can also be represented in polar form as written below:


Note: The Arg(z) is the angle , and that this angle is only unique
between which is called the primary angle. Adding
Example:
Using the principle argument, write the following complex number in its polar
coordinates.

Multiplication and division can be given geometric interpretations and new insight when
looking at polar forms:
Let and be complex numbers.


We can see from this that in order to multiply two complex numbers we must multiply
the length or absolute values together and add the arguments.



In the case of division, it is similarly shown that:

by using the subtration rule of sine and cosine, as apose to multipling the lengths we divide
and as apose to adding the arguments, we subtract.
Example:





DeMoivre's Theorem
DeMoivre's Theorem is a generalized formula to compute powers of a complex number in it's
polar form.
Looking at from the eariler formula we can find (z)(z) easily:



Which brings us to DeMoivre's Theorem:
If and n are positive integers then
Basically, in order to find the nth power of a complex number we take the nth power of the
absolute value or length and multiply the argument by n.

Example:

Working backwards we can also use DeMoivre's Theorem to find the nth root.
Let and n be a positive integer.Then z has n distinct nth roots given
by:
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where k = 0, 1, 2, ... , n-1
To show this we let and where .

Example:


Euler's Fomula
From Calculus, we know the functions e
x
, sin x and cos x have power series expansions or
Taylor series.

When looking at complex numbers it is interesting to see that the power series for
e
z
allows z to be complex and obeys the usual rules for exponents. In particular it holds true
that:
e
z
1
+z
2 = e
z
1
z
2
letting z = iy where i is imaginary and y is a real number
From the fact that:

This gives us the result of Euler's Formula
e
iy
= cos y + isin y
Then we can also define z as:
Example:


It is also important to mention that
if and
From tringonometry we can then say: