APPENDIX

Complex numbers
C
C.1 Complex numbers: the algebraic view
Historically, the need for complex numbers arose when people tried to solve equa-
tions such as x 2 + 1 = 0 and realized that there was no ordinary number that satisfied
this equation. The √ basic element in the expansion of the number system is the imag-
inary unit, i = −1, a solution of x 2 + 1 = 0. There is an interesting pattern to the
powers of i: i 1 = i, i 2 = −1, i 3 = −i, i 4 = 1, i 5 = i, i 6 = −1, i 7 = −i, i 8 = 1, . . . .
We can use this repetition in groups of four, for example, to calculate a high power of
i: i 338 = (i 2 )169 = (−1)169 = −1. A complex number is any expression of the form
x + yi, where x and y are real numbers. If we have a complex number z = x + yi,
then x is called the real part, denoted Re(z), and y is called the imaginary part,
denoted Im(z), of the complex number. (Note that despite its name, y is a real num-
ber.) In particular, any real number x is a member of the family of complex numbers
because it can be written as x + 0 · i. Any complex number of the form yi (= 0 + yi)
is called a pure imaginary number.
Complex numbers can be added and subtracted in a reasonable way by combining
real parts and imaginary parts as follows:

(a + bi) + (c + di) = (a + c) + (b + d)i

and

(a + bi) − (c + di) = (a − c) + (b − d)i.

We can also multiply complex numbers as we would multiply any binomial in alge-
bra, remembering to replace i 2 whenever it occurs by −1:

(a + bi) · (c + di) = ac + adi + bci + bdi 2 = (ac − bd) + (ad + bc)i.

Division of complex numbers is a bit trickier. If z = x + yi is a complex number, then

its complex conjugate, z, is defined as z = x − yi. (Just reverse the sign of the imag-
inary part.) The complex conjugate is important in division because z · z = x 2 + y 2 ,
a real number. (Check this out.) In division of complex numbers, the conjugate plays
much the same role as the conjugate we learned to use in algebra to simplify frac-
tions; for example, if we were asked to simplify the fraction √3 , we would rationalize
5

445
446 APPENDIX C Complex numbers

the denominator as follows:

√ √
3 3 5 3 5
√ =√ ·√ = .
5 5 5 5
Another example from algebra makes the similarity between conjugates more obvi-
ous:
√ √ √ √ √ √
2+ 3 2+ 3 3+ 2 6+2 2+3 3+ 6
√ = √ · √ =
3− 2 3− 2 3+ 2 9−2
√ √ √
6+2 2+3 3+ 6
= .
7
√ √
In the preceding example, 3 + 2 is the conjugate of 3 − 2; when we multiply these
conjugates, the radical sign disappears, leaving us with the integer 7. Now if we have
to divide two complex numbers, we use the complex conjugate to get the answer, the
quotient, to look like a complex number. For example,
2 + 3i 2 + 3i 3 − 5i 21 − i 21 1
= · = = − i.
3 + 5i 3 + 5i 3 − 5i 9 + 25 34 34
In general, if z = a + bi and w = c + di, then
z a + bi a + bi c − di ac + bd bc − ad
= = · = 2 + 2 i.
w c + di c + di c − di c + d2 c + d2
If z and w are complex numbers, we should be able to see that z = z, (z + w) = z +w,
 
z · w = z · w, and wz = wz for w = 0. Also, Re(z) = z+z 2 and Im(z) = 2i .
z−z

The important algebraic rules of commutativity, associativity, and distributivity

work for complex numbers. Furthermore, all the properties in this section extend to
vectors and matrices (Appendix B) with complex-number entries. For example, if
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
c1 c1 c1
⎢ c2 ⎥ ⎢ c2 ⎥ ⎢ c2 ⎥
V=⎢ ⎥ is a vector with complex components, then V = ⎢ . ⎥ = ⎢ ⎥
. If A =
⎣.⎦. ⎢
⎣ . ⎦ ⎣ .. ⎥
. . .⎦
cn cn cn




aij represents a matrix with entry aij in row i and column j , then A = aij = a ij .

C.2 Complex numbers: the geometric view

The geometric interpretation of complex numbers occurred at roughly the same
time to three people: the Norwegian surveyor and map maker, Caspar Wessel
(1745–1818); the French-Swiss mathematician, Jean Robert Argand (1768–1822);
and the German mathematician-astronomer-physicist, Karl Friedrich Gauss
(1777–1855).
 Complex numbers 447

The idea here is to represent a complex number using the familiar Cartesian co-
ordinate system, making the horizontal axis the real axis and the vertical axis the
imaginary axis. Such a system is called the complex plane. For example, Fig. C.1
shows how the complex number 3 + 2i would be represented as a point in this way.

FIGURE C.1
Representation of a complex number

If we join this point to the origin with a straight line, we get a vector. (See Sec-
tion B.1.) The sum of z = a + bi and w = c + di corresponds to the point (or vector)
(a + c, b + d). This implies that the addition/subtraction of complex numbers corre-
sponds to the Parallelogram Law of vector algebra (Fig. C.2).

FIGURE C.2
The Parallelogram Law

The modulus, or absolute value, of the complex number z= x + yi, denoted |z|,
is the nonnegative real number defined by the equation |z| = x 2 + y 2 . The number
|z| represents the distance between the origin and the point (x, y) in the complex
plane, the length of the vector representing the complex number z = x + yi. Note
that |z|2 = z · z.
448 APPENDIX C Complex numbers

C.3 The quadratic formula

Given the quadratic equation ax 2 + bx + c = 0, where a, b, and c are real numbers
with a = 0, the solutions are given by the quadratic formula:
√
−b ± b2 − 4ac
x= .
2a
The expression inside the radical sign, b2 − 4ac, is called the discriminant and en-
ables us to discriminate among the possibilities for solutions. If b2 − 4ac > 0, the
quadratic formula yields two real solutions. If b2 − 4ac = 0, we get a single repeated
solution, a solution of multiplicity two. Finally, if b2 − 4ac < 0, the quadratic formula
produces two complex numbers as solutions, a complex conjugate pair. To see this
last situation, suppose that b2 − 4ac = −q, where q is a positive real number. Then
the solution formula looks like
√ √ √
−b ± −q −b ± q(−1) −b ± q i
x= = = ,
2a 2a 2a
√ √
q q
so the two solutions are x1 = − 2a
b
+ 2a i and x2 = − 2a
b
− 2a i, which are complex
conjugates of each other.

C.4 Euler’s formula

Around 1740, while studying differential equations of the form y  + y = 0, Euler
discovered his famous formula for complex exponentials:

eiy = cos y + i sin y.

If z = x + iy, then we have

ez = ex+iy = ex eiy = ex (cos y + i sin y).

Without fully understanding the way infinite series worked, Euler just substituted the
complex number iy in the series for ex (see Section A.3) and then separated the real
and imaginary parts:

(iy)2 (iy)3 (iy)4 (iy)5

eiy = 1 + iy + + + + + ···
2! 3! 4! 5!
y2 y3 y4 y5
= 1 + iy − −i + + i − ···
2! 3! 4! 5!
2 4  
y y y3 y5
= 1− + − · · · +i y − + − · · · = cos y + i sin y.
2! 4! 3! 5!
     
cos y sin y