MB1105: Complex Numbers and Quadratic Equations

Kick Start
1. What is the limitation of the set of real numbers? In the set of real numbers, we cannot perform the following two operations: a) Take the square-root (or any even root) of a negative number, and b) Divide by zero. The obstacle to the first procedure is that if any real number is raised to an even power (2, 4, 6, 8, etc.) then the result is always positive. Therefore, the even-root of a negative number cannot be a real number. 2. Why do we need to take the square-root of a negative number? Suppose we want to solve the degree 2 (quadratic) equation

x2 5 0
Then, following the standard rules of operations, we will get

x 5
This is one of the reasons, why it is important for us to explore what these types of numbers are. 3. What is an imaginary number? An imaginary number is a number that is not real. Since even-roots of a negative number are not real numbers, numbers.
4

5,

16, and 90 are imaginary

4. How is the even root of a negative number associated to the even root of the corresponding positive number? In particular, what is the relationship between ? First observe that every even-root of a negative number can be expressed as a root of the square-root of that negative number. That is, for a > 0, we have
2

= 5 =

. 5

Next, we see that, for a > 0, we have = 1 = 1 For example, 5 = 5 1 = 5 1 Therefore, we can say that

5 1 =

1 =

5 1

In general, we have that,

1 =

1 =

5. What is square root of 1? The reason why even roots of negative numbers are not real numbers, is because 1 is not a real number. Since it is not a real number, we call it the IMAGINARY number and denote this by the greek letter iota whose symbol is i. So, now we have i = 1. Thus, we get, = In particular, we have 5 = 5 Now, any even root of a can be written as,
2

In particular, we have
4

5 =

5 =

6. How many imaginary numbers are there? There are as many imaginary numbers as there are real numbers. Surprised! For every real number b, there exists an imaginary number bi. And, every imaginary number can be written as ai for some real number a. This gives us a one-to-one correspondence between the set of imaginary numbers and the set of real numbers. 7. What is a complex number? Any number that is obtained as a sum of a real and an imaginary number is called a complex number. Thus, if z is a complex number then, we have = + where: a and b are real numbers a is called the real part of z, denoted by Re(z) b is called the imaginary part of z, denoted by Im(z). 8. What is a complex plane? A complex plane provides a visual representation of complex numbers. It consists of a horizontal axis called the real axis and a vertical axis called the imaginary axis. Thus, a complex plane is a modified Cartesian plane, with the real part of a complex number represented along the x-axis, and the imaginary part along the y-axis. Thus, the complex number = + corresponds to the point (x, y) in the complex plane.

9. Why are complex numbers different from real numbers? Complex numbers have 2 real dimensions, whereas the real numbers have only one dimension. Thus, while manipulating with real numbers, we usually move on the real line, whereas while manipulating with complex numbers, we move on a plance (a 2-D object). 10. When are two complex numbers equal? If a + bi = c + di, then a and c must be equal, and b and d must be equal.
Find x and y if 3x + yi = 5x + 1 + 2i. We set the real parts of the equation equal and set the imaginary parts equal. Thus, we get 3x = 5x + 1 2x = 1 x = (1/2) yi = 2i y=2

11. How do we add complex numbers? Two complex numbers are added by adding their respective real and imaginary parts. Thus, we have

We can also visualize the addition of complex numbers in the complex plane as follows:

Using the above representation, we see that the sum of the complex numbers 3 + 4i and 1+ i is given as 2 + 5i as follows:

12. What is the additive identity of the set of complex numbers? The complex number 0 + 0i is the additive identity of complex numbers. In the complex plane, this number represents the intersection of the real and imaginary axis. This point is called the origin and represented by O. 13. What is the additive inverse of a complex number? The additive inverse of a complex number is the reflection of that number about the origin in the complex plane. Thus, in the image below, the complex numbers p and r are additive inverses of each other and the complex number q and s are additive inverses of each other.

Algebraically, the additive inverse of x + iy is the complex number x yi. 14. How do we multiply numbers by i? When multiplying a number by i, we rotate the number by 90. This is illustrated in the image below.

15. How do we multiply complex numbers? We can multiply two complex numbers using the distributive property as follows:

On the complex plane, the product of two complex numbers is tough to determine till we learn about the polar representation of complex numbers (done later in this document). But, for now, here is a visual that can help you understand this a bit.

16. What is the conjugate of a complex number? The complex numbers a + bi and a bi are called conjugates of each other.

On the complex planes these numbers are the reflection of each other with respect to the real (horizontal) axis.

17. What is the modulus of a complex number? The modulus of the complex number is the distance of the complex number from the origin. It is denoted by |z| or r.

18. How many complex numbers are there with same modulus? There are infinite complex numbers that have the same modulus. In fact, all these complex numbers lie on a circle of radius |z| centered at the origin.

19. What is the multiplicative inverse of a complex number? The multiplicative inverse of a complex number is the quotient of its conjugate and the square root of its modulus. The following diagram shows z, conjugate of z, and z 1 with red dots.

20. How do we divide complex numbers? To divide two complex numbers we multiply the dividend by the multiplicative inverse of the divisor. Therefore, we have

21. What is the polar form of a complex number? The polar coordinate system consists of concentric circles centered at origin. Any point (a, b) can be specified as a set of coordinates (r, ) where r is the distance of the point from the origin and is the angle that the radius to the point makes with the positive direction of the horizontal axis. (See image below)

Any complex number x + iy can be represented in its polar form by writing = and = The following image explains how we get the above relations.

22. What is the argument of a complex number? The angle is called the argument of a complex number.

23. Why does the formula for finding the argument of a complex number change based on the quadrant in which the complex number lies. Because a complete rotation around 0 leaves a complex number unchanged, there are many choices which could be made for by circling the origin any number of times.

Depending upon the quadrant in which the complex number lies, we find the value of the argument as follows: (Here, arctan means tan1).

24. How do we find the square root of i? The square root of i is given by

This result can be obtained algebraically by finding a and b such that or equivalently

This gives the two simultaneous equations

with solutions

The choice of the principal root then gives

Geometrically, we can visualize the square-root of i as the two blue dots shown in the image below.

25. How do we find the square root of a complex number? If r and are the modulus and argument of a complex number then its square root can be computed using the formula:

26. What is the fundamental theorem of algebra? The fundamental theorem of algebra states that every non-constant single-variable polynomials with complex coefficients has at least one complex root.

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