How to explain

Euler's identity
using triangles
and spirals

Is this you? Want a

better explanation?
Read on...

From: http://xkcd.com/179/

Hopefully you remember

learning in school about
multiplying complex
numbers.*

When we multiply two

complex numbers in polar
coordinates, we multiply
the lengths and add the
angles.

AB
B
A

We can draw this as

two similar triangles in
the complex plane.

*If not, try this article: http://betterexplained.com/articles/a-visualintuitive-guide-to-imaginary-numbers/

AA

The square of a
complex number
is even easier to
draw. Just make
two similar
triangles that
share an edge.

We can raise a complex

number to a higher power by
stacking similar triangles to
build a logarithmic spiral.

AAAA

AAA

AA

A
1

The length of
the spokes grows
exponentially, but the
angle between each two
spokes is always the same.

As a special case, if we
stack isosceles triangles
then we go around a circle
instead of a spiral.

A5

AA

Since the first spoke

must have length 1 and
all the other spokes are
the same length, the
vertices all lie on the
unit circle.

As a special case of
the special case,
here's how to draw
the definition of i by
stacking two right
icosceles triangles.

i2 = -1

If we stack right triangles in a different

way, we again get a spiral.
Each right triangle sits on the
hypotenuse of the previous triangle, so
the triangles have to get bigger.
This spiral has a
nice formula:
AAA
AA

The parameters of the formula control

which way the spiral will go.

Length of first spoke

(always 1)

AAA = (1 + xi)3
AA = (1 + xi)2

A = 1 + xi

Number of
triangles.

Length of first edge

around rim of spiral.

The formula for stacking triangles is similar to the

one for compound interest, except that each
"interest payment" is rotated 90 degrees from the
"principal".
number of times
compounded

principal amount

AA

first interest payment

Suppose we "compound" more frequently?

That increases the number of triangles and
makes them skinnier.

I'm setting x to /n so that things

work out later.

A
16

As we increase the number of

triangles and make them
proportionally skinnier, the length of
the hypothenuse of each right triangle
becomes very close to the length of
the previous spoke. So the triangles
don't grow as much, and spiral
becomes closer to circular.

24

A
1

Taking the limit, we get an infinite

number of spokes that are all the
same size, taking us around a circle.
And going radians around the
unit circle takes us to the
opposite side.

~-1

The limit that we just took corresponds closely

to the definition of the exponential function.

~-1

It would be nice if we could extend the

domain of the exponential function so
that x could be a complex number.
Then we could plug in x = i to get
Euler's identity.

~-1

For the limit itself, there's no mystery. We don't need to

raise a number to an imaginary exponent (whatever
that means). We're just repeatedly multiplying complex
numbers that are very close to 1.
This is just an ordinary
complex number, a + bi.
As n gets large, it gets
closer to 1.

~-1

It's repeated multiplication

because n is a positive integer.

But there seems to be some sleight of hand:

we're defining imaginary exponents to mean
something new, circular movement. It fits
together seamlessly, but raising a number to an
imaginary power seems weird. Why would
anyone want that?

~-1

Let's take a step back and look at

the powers of some simpler
numbers. If we start with 1 and
repeatedly double it, we can plot
the path of y=2x.
1, 2, 4, 8...

2
1

Here we are defining the powers of 2

using repeated multiplication.
There's a big jump from each point to
the next. But we can fix that.

8.0

4.0

2.0
1.0

If we want to use the same equation

(y=2x) but allow any real number for
x, we cannot use repeated
multiplication anymore. (What does
it mean to multiply a
number times?)
We need another way of defining
exponentiation to generate a
curve that connects the dots.

8.0

4.0

2.0
1.0

The real exponential function uses

continuous compounding to
create a curve that extends
repeated multiplication. With a little
adjustment, it can connect the dots
laid by repeated multiplication of
any positive real number. We
can do this because all
exponential growth curves are
essentially the same.

-2 + 2i

2i
1+i

-4
1

-4 - 4i

Now let's take a complex

number and repeatedly
multiply it. We get a spiral
trail of points on the complex
plane. (We're stacking
triangles, remember?)

We want the exponential

function to connect the dots
laid by repeated multiplication.
But e is a real number and
raising it to any real power
won't rotate.

To construct a spiral, we need a

circular component to control
the angle and a linear
component to control the radius.
Defining the imaginary powers of
e to follow a circle gives us
everything we need to construct
any logarithmic spiral on the
complex plane by raising e to
a complex exponent.

The complex exponential

function generates curves that
connect the dots from
repeated complex
multiplication.
Just like the real exponential
function generates curves
that connect the dots from
repeated real multiplication.

-1

i2 = -1

-1

So we can think of Euler's

identity as showing how we
can use continuous
rotation on the unit
circle to connect the dots
plotted by repeated
multiplication of i.
Rotation was there all along
in the definition of i and
complex multiplication. The
exponential function fills in
the curve.

Hope that helped!

Brian Slesinsky
brian-web@slesinsky.org
http://slesinsky.org/brian/
https://plus.google.com/114156500057804356924/posts