Chapter 1

Complex numbers

When someone starts studying arithmetic, they use counting numbers only; however,
they soon find that this kind of numbers is not enough for tackling all problems which
involve subtraction. Thus, negative numbers are then used. Similarly, to cope with
problems that need division, fractions are needed. The set of these numbers, positive,
negative and fractions, are together called the rational numbers. They are sufficient
to manage most aspects of every day life.
However, when mathematicians found that

2 and 3 cannot be expressed as

rational numbers, they invented the irrational numbers. The rational numbers and
the irrational numbers are, together, called the real numbers.
But the real numbers are still not enough for tackling all the problems you might
meet; for example, you cannot solve all quadratic equations using only real numbers.
Filling this gap leads directly to the invention of complex numbers.
Apart from being interesting in their own right, complex numbers turn out to
facilitate the proofs of some interesting results about real numbers and some quite
surprising geometrical results.
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1.1

Complex arithmetic

Suppose we want to find the solutions of the quadratic equation x2 + 4x 5 = 0. We

can draw the graph of y = x2 + 4x 5 and locate the solutions at x = 5 and x = 1;
see figure 1.1.a). Obviously, we could also use the well known quadratic equation

4 16 + 20
formula x =
to find the solutions.
2
On the other hand, if we try to find the solutions of the quadratic equation x2 +
4x + 5 = 0 and draw the graph of y = x2 + 4x + 5, we can see in figure 1.1.b) that there
are no real numbers satisfying the equation. If we try to use the quadratic equation

formula, we obtain that x = 2 1. If we use the symbol i to represent 1 we

can simply write the solutions as x = 2 i.
b)

40

20

20

40

60

60

80

a)

Figure 1.1: Graph of: a) y = x2 + 4x 5; b) y = x2 + 4x + 5

More formally, the number a + ib, where a and b are real numbers and i =

1 is

called a complex number. The number a is called the real part; the number b is called
the imaginary part. Notice that the imaginary part of a complex number is real.
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1.1.1

Addition and multiplication

You add and subtract complex numbers by adding the real parts and the imaginary
parts:
(a + bi) + (c + di) = (a + c) + (b + d)i;
(a + bi) (c + di) = (a c) + (b d)i.
You multiply complex numbers in a similar way, remembering to replace i2 by 1
whenever it occurs:
(a + bi) (c + di) = (ac bd) + i(bc + ad).
The set of complex numbers, with the operations of addition and multiplication
has the algebraic structure of a field. Briefly, this means that
any two complex numbers can be added and multiplied to yield another complex number;
for any complex number z, its negative z is also a complex number;
every nonzero complex number has a reciprocal complex number;
each operation satisfies the laws corresponding to a commutative group;
the multiplication is distributive over the addition.

1.1.2

Dividing complex numbers

To divide one complex number by another, we use the following method: we multiply
c di
a + bi
the quotient
by 1, written in the unusual form
, which will always turn
c + di
c di
the denominator into a real number.
The complex number x iy is called the complex conjugate of the number x + iy,
and is written as x iy = x + iy, or if z = x + iy, then we write z = x iy.
3

1.2

Graphing complex numbers

It is customary to use the single letter z to represent a complex number x + iy, where
x and y are real; this suggests a correspondence between the complex number x + iy
and the point (x, y) of the plane. The whole plane is called the Argand diagram or the
complex plane. The X axis is called the real axis and the Y axis is called the imaginary
axis.

Figure 1.2: The Argand diagram or complex plane

Another way to describe the position of a complex number z is to give the length
of the line from the origin to the point z, together with the angle that this line makes
with the positive X axis. The length of the line from the origin to the point (x, y), that
p
is, x2 + y2 , is called the modulus of the complex number z, and is often written
as |z| or r. The modulus can never be negative. The angle, measured anti-clockwise
between the positive X axis and the line joining the origin to the complex number is
called the argument of z, and is written as arg z or . However, notice that a given
complex number has infinitely many arguments, because we can make any number
of revolutions, in either direction, before ending up on the line that joins the origin to
4

the complex number. If we restrict the argument to the range (, ], we are using
the principal value of the argument. Every other argument of a complex number will
differ from the principal value by a multiple of 2.
The use of the modulus and the argument of a complex number is known as the
polar representation of such number, and is commonly expressed in the trigonometric form as:
z = |z|(cos + i sin ).
Also, if we use Eulers formula:
eix = cos x + i sin x,
the polar form has the following expression:
z = |z|ei .
Notice that since the argument is not unique, the polar representation is not unique
either; for example ei and e3i represent the same complex number z = 1.

1.3

Powers and roots

Suppose we want to compute the square (x + iy)2 ; we can calculate the result in
different ways. We can multiply x + iy by itself and get
(x + iy)2 = (x + iy)(x + iy) = x2 y2 + 2xyi.
We could also use the Argand diagram and represent x = |z| cos and y = |z| sin ,
what yields
(x+iy)2 = |z|2 (cos +i sin )2 = |z|2 (cos2 sin2 +2 cos sin i) = |z|2 (cos 2+i sin 2).
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The same reasoning could be used to prove that

(x + iy)3 = |z|3 (cos 3 + i sin 3),
and in general that
(x + iy)n = |z|n (cos n + i sin n).
Finally, if we want to compute the n-th root of a complex number x+iy 6= 0, which

we will denote by z = n x + iy, we look for the complex number z, with modulus |z|
and principal argument , such that zn = x + yi. Then,
zn = |z|n (cos n + i sin n),
and since the polar representation of x + iy is given by

y


y
p
2
2
+ 2k + i sin
+ 2k ,
x + y cos
x
x

k Z,

setting correspondent terms equal to each other, we get that the argument of an n-th
root should be
p
1/n
2
2
|z| =
x +y
,
and that the argument should verify
=

2k
y
+
.
nx
n

Since, there are n different values of such arguments that yield in the range (, ],
we conclude that:
there are always n distinct n-th roots of the complex number x + iy.
Figure 1.3 shows the six 6-th roots of 1, plotted in the Argand diagram. Notice that
in the real line, 1 has only two 6-th roots, 1 and 1.

Figure 1.3: The six complex 6-th roots of 1.