Complex Numbers
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Contents |
Definition
Complex numbers are numbers which take the form 
, where 
and 
are real numbers and 
.
Such numbers frequently appear in mathematical equations, even in those describing physical systems. Extending our notion of numbers to include complex numbers results in many astounding symmetries and relationships throughout mathematics.
Basic Properties
Complex numbers have two parts: a "real" part represented by and an "imaginary" part represented by 
; the 
factor in the imaginary part forces the two to be separate. The same operations that are used on real numbers, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, can be used on complex numbers. For example, two complex numbers are added by components, real added to real part and imaginary to imaginary part:
As another example, multiplying two complex numbers is carried out in the same way that we would multiply two real binomials:
Note that because each is the square root of 
, the product of two terms gives , so 
.
Visualizing the Complex Numbers
We traditionally visualize the real numbers, such as 2 and 0.5, as points on the number line. We can visualize real numbers this way because all real numbers can be identified by a single value. The real number 5 is unique, and has its own place on the number line. Because complex numbers have two parts, we can think of them as vectors contained in a plane. We call the plane which contains complex numbers the Argand Plane, or the Complex Plane. The y-axis represents the imaginary component of our complex number, and the x-axis the real component. The complex number 
is shown below:
. For example, 
rotates the number 
180º about the origin. Because
is the square root of , 
rotates 90º about the origin. Thus two successive multiplications by
is equivalent to multiplying by , or one 180-degree rotation about the origin: 
We can thus speak of the magnitude of a complex number as the length of this vector, which is 
, as is readily shown by the Pythagorean Theorem.This vector idea leads to an important relation between trigonometry and the complex numbers. Euler's formula, which can be derived using Taylor Series, tells us that
.
- This page's main image shows that
and 
.
- Substituting gives
- or
.
Therefore all complex numbers of the form can be expressed with an exponential function.
Relation to the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra
The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra states that a polynomial of degree 
has roots. Polynomials frequently have extra roots in addition to their real roots. For example, 
and 
are the roots of the polynomial 
. Since this is a polynomial of degree , it should have two roots, and it does. But the polynomial 
only has one real root, . But by the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, it must have three roots. The complex ones turn out to be 
and 
or 
and 
. The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra could not have been proved without the use of complex numbers, because it is untrue if only real roots are considered.
References
Nahin, Paul J. An Imaginary Tale: The Story of [the Square Root of minus One]. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1998.
Strogatz, Steven. "Finding Your Roots." Opinionator Finding Your Roots Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2012. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/finding-your-roots/>.
