Complex Variables and

Transforms
Lecture #01
Engr. Hammad Khalid
Department of Mechanical Engineering
INTRODUCTION
 A complex number is a number that can be expressed in the
form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is the
imaginary unit.
 Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of
functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical
analysis that investigates functions of complex numbers. It is
useful in many branches of mathematics as well as in physics,
including hydrodynamics and thermodynamics and also in
engineering fields such as nuclear, aerospace, mechanical and
electrical engineering.

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Application in Mechanical Engineering

The concept of complex geometry and Argand plane is very much useful in constructing cars and 2-D
designing of cars. It is also very useful in cutting of tools. Another possibility to use complex numbers in
simple mechanics might be to use them to represent rotations.

1. 3.
2. Control 4. 5. Fluid 6. Heat
Quantum
Air Foils Theory Relativity Mechanics Flow
Mechanics

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CONTROL THEORY

Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that

deals with the behavior of dynamical systems with inputs, and how their behavior is
modified by feedback.

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CONTROL THEORY

 An example of a control system is a car's cruise control, which is a

device designed to maintain vehicle speed at a constant desired
or reference speed provided by the driver.
 The controller is the cruise control, the plant is the car, and the
system is the car and the cruise control.
 The system output is the car's speed, and the control itself is the
engine's throttle position which determines how much power the
engine generates.

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 CONTROL THEORY
Robust control deals explicitly with
uncertainty in its approach to controller
design. Controllers designed using robust
control methods tend to be able to cope
with small differences between the true
system and the nominal model used for
design.
Automation or automatic control, is the use
of various control systems for operating
equipment such as machinery, processes in
factories, boilers and heat treating ovens,
switching in telephone networks, steering
and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other
applications with minimal or reduced human 6
intervention
Air Foil
 The Joukowsky transform, named after Nikolai Zhukovsky is a
conformal map historically used to understand some principles of
air foil design.
 A large amount of airfoil theory has been developed by distorting
flow around a cylinder to flow around an airfoil.
 The essential feature of the distortion is that the potential flow
being distorted ends up also as potential flow.
 The most common Conformal transformation is the Joukowsky
transformation which is given by

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 ζ = X + iɳ is a complex variable in the original space.
RELATIVITY

 General Relativity, one of the two pillars of

modern physics General relativity, also known as
the general theory of relativity, is the geometric
theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein
in 1915.
 General relativity generalizes special relativity and
Newton's law of universal gravitation.
 It’s providing a unified description of gravity as a
geometric property of space and time, or space-
time. 8
RELATIVITY

 In special and general relativity,

some formulas for the metric on
space time become simpler if
one takes the time variable to be
imaginary. (This is no longer
standard in classical relativity,
but is used in an essential way in
quantum field theory.)
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QUANTUM MECHANICS

 Quantum mechanics provides a mathematical description

of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior
and interactions of energy and matter.
 The complex number field is relevant in the mathematical
formulation of quantum mechanics, where complex
Hilbert spaces provide the context for one such
formulation that is convenient and perhaps most standard.

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QUANTUM MECHANICS

 The original foundation formulas of quantum mechanics –

the Schrödinger equation and Heisenberg's matrix
mechanics – make use of complex numbers.
 Expressing wave function as complex number
Schrödinger's idea was to express the phase of a plane
wave as a complex phase factor:

Ψ(x,t) = Aei(k.x-wt) 11
  You can’t take the square root of a negative number. If
you use imaginary units, you can!
 The imaginary unit is ‘i ’.
 i 1
 =
It is used to write the square root of a negative number.

b
Index a Radicand

Property of the square root of negative numbers

 If r is a positive real number, then

r i r
Examples:

3 4 i 2i
4
i
 i
If i -1,
then : 1
i 3 i i4 i 5 i
i 2
1
i 1 etc
i6 1 i7 i8 .
For i n … divide n by 4…

 If n is evenly divisible by 4 then i n =1

 If the remainder is 1, then i n = i

 If the remainder is 2, then i n = -1

 If the remainder is 3, then i n = -i

 A number consisting of two parts, one real and one imaginary
 For real numbers a and b the number a + bi is a
complex number.
 If b is 0, the complex number reduces to a which is a pure
real number.
 If a is 0, the complex number reduces to bi which is a pure
imaginary number.
 In other words all numbers, real and imaginary, are in the
set of complex numbers.
The combination of real and imaginary numbers make up the
complex number system

a bi
Real part Imaginary part
 All numbers can be expressed as complex
numbers.
3 3 0i 6i 0
 6i
The complex conjugate of a complex number, z = x +
jy, denoted by z* , is given by
z* = x – jy.
 Two complex numbers
 a + bi and c + di are equal , if a = c and b = d

Properties of Complex Numbers

 The following properties of real numbers hold for complex

numbers.
 Associative Properties of Addition and Multiplication

 Commutative Properties of Addition and Multiplication

 Distributive property of Multiplication over Addition

 We modify the familiar coordinate system by calling the horizontal
axis the real axis and the vertical axis the imaginary axis.
 Each complex number a + bi determines a unique position vector
with initial point (0, 0) and terminal point (a, b).

Real Axis

Imaginary Axis
2
5i

2 2i

4 3i

4
3i
Absolute Value of a Complex Number
 The distance the complex number is from the origin on the
complex plane.
 If you have a complex number (a bi )
the absolute value can be found using:
2 2
a b
Examples
1. 2 2. 6i
5i2
( 2) (5)2 (0)2 ( 6)2
4 0
25
29 36
36
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Addition and Subtraction of Complex
Numbers
 Add or subtract the real parts, then add or subtract the
imaginary parts.
 For complex numbers a + bi and c + di ,

a c di a c b d i c
di a c b
bi
d i
a
(4 + 6i) + (3 + 7i) (10 4i) - (5 - 2i)
= [4 + (3)]bi+ [6 + 7]i = (10 - 5) + [4 (-2)]i
 =Examples
1+i = 5 + 6i
Multiplication of Complex Numbers
 Treat the i’s like variables, then change any that are not to
the first power
 For complex numbers a + bi and c + di,
a bi c di ac bd ad bc i
 The product of two complex numbers is found by multiplying
as if the numbers were binomials and using the fact that i2 =
-1.
 Example:- Ex: (2 3i)( 6
1. i(3 i) 2i)
3i 12 4i 18i 6i2
1212 22i
22i 6( 61)
i2
6
3i
22i
 11i 1
*
3
Ex : 1 2i2i 1 25
2i 5i5
(3 11i)( 1 2i)
25
( 1 2i)( 1 2i)
55i 5
3 6i 11i
22i2
5 i
1 2i 2i 4i2
3 5i 1
22( )
1 4( 1)
3 5i
22
1 4