Calculus II (part 3): Complex Numbers

(by Evan Dummit, 2012, v. 1.10)

Contents
1 Complex Numbers

1.1

Denition and Complex Arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2

Complex Exponentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Complex Numbers

Complex numbers may seem daunting when rst introduced, but they are (in fact) very useful in mathematics.
Plus, they're just neat.

Some History: Complex numbers were rst encountered by mathematicians in the 1500s who were trying to
write down general formulas for solving cubic equations (i.e., equations like

x3 + x + 1 = 0),

in analogy with

the formula for the solutions of a quadratic equation. It turned out that their formulas required manipulation
of complex numbers, even when the cubics they were solving had three real roots.

It took over 100 years before complex numbers were accepted as something mathematically legitimate
 even negative numbers were sometimes suspect, so  you may imagine  their square roots were even
more questionable.

You can see this stigma even today, in the terminology (imaginary numbers), and the fact that complex
numbers are often glossed over or ignored until late in mathematics.

Nonetheless, they are very real objects (no pun intended), and have a wide range of uses in mathematics,
physics, and engineering.

Among neat applications of complex numbers are deriving trigonometric identities with much less work (see
later) and evaluating certain kinds of indenite integrals.

For example, using the theory of functions of a

complex variable, one can derive many rather unusual results, such as

cos(x)

dx = .
2
1+x
e

1.1 Denition and Complex Arithmetic

Denitions: A complex number is a number

unit, dened so that

and

are real numbers and

The real part of

The imaginary part of

The conjugate of

The modulus (also called the absolute value, norm, or length) of

is the imaginary

z = a + bi,

denoted Re(z), is the real number

z = a + bi,

z = a + bi,

a.

denoted Im(z), is the real number

denoted

z,

is the complex number

b.

a bi.
z = a + bi,

denoted

|z|,

is the real

a2 + b2 .

Example: Re(4

3i) = 4,

Im(4

3i) = 3, 4 3i = 4 + 3i, |4 3i| = 5.

Two complex numbers are added (or subtracted) simply by adding (or subtracting) their real and imaginary
parts:

where

number

a + bi,

i2 = 1.

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

Example: The sum of

Example: The dierence

1 + 2i

and

3 4i

is

4 2i

(1 + 2i) (3 4i) = 2 + 6i

Two complex numbers are multiplied by the distributive law:

(ac bd) + (ad + bc)i.

(a + bi)(c + di) = ac + adi + bci + bdi2 =

Example: The product

(1 + 2i)(3 4i) = 11 + 2i

For division, we use a 'trick': write

a + bi
(a + bi)(c di)
ac + bd bc ad
+ 2
i.
=
= 2
c + di
(c + di)(c di)
c + d2
c + d2

2i
2i(1 + i)
2 + 2i
=
=
= 1 + i
1i
(1 i)(1 + i)
2

Example: The quotient

1.2 Complex Exponentials

One extremely useful thing about complex numbers is that we can write them in several dierent forms.

Given that
identify

|z| = r

 i.e., if we know that

given angle

lies on the circle of radius

that the line connecting

centered at 0  we can uniquely

to the origin makes with the positive real axis. [For

those who have seen polar coordinates before, this will be very familiar.]

|z| = r

Some very simple trigonometry shows that if

just the angle

that

This is called the polar form of

and the argument of

makes with the positive real axis  is equal to

z,

then

denoted arg(z)  which is

z = r [cos() + i sin()] .

z.

Notational remark: Since it comes up frequently, some people like to abbreviate

cos() + i sin()

by

cis() ( cosine-i-sine).

Conversely, if we know

= arg(z).
if

x < 0.

z = x + iy

Explicitly, we have

[This extra

r=

x2 + y 2

and

is needed because of the specic way we've chosen the denition of arctangent.

Otherwise we'd get the wrong value for

(r, ) form fairly easily, since r = |z| and

y
 
1 y
= tan1
if x > 0, and = tan
+
x
x

then we can compute the

if

lies in the second or third quadrants.]

We're comfortable with plugging complex numbers into polynomials, but what about other functions? We'd
like to be able to say what something like

We feel like

ea+bi

should mean.

should obey the exponential rules, and so we want to say

only care about what

ea+bi

ebi

ea+bi = ea ebi .

So really, we

is.

Let's see what it should be, by plugging into the Taylor series for

ex :

x3
x4
x5
x6
x7
+
+
+
+
.
3!
4!
5!
6!
7!

we know that

ex = 1 + x +

x2
+
2!

(bi)3
(bi)4
(bi)5
(bi)6
(bi)7
(bi)2
+
+
+
+
+
+ .
2!
3!
4!
5!
6!
6!
b2
b3
b4
b5
b6
b7
Expanding out the powers gives ebi = 1 + bi
i+
+ i

.
2!
3!
4!
5!
6!
7!

 

b2
b4
b6
b3
b5
b7
bi
+

+ + b
+

+ i.
Grouping the real and imaginary terms together gives e = 1
2!
4!
6!
3!
5!
7!
And we recognize those two power series as the series for sine and cosine! So this gives a very strong

So we should have

ebi = 1 + (bi) +

suggestion for what we want.

The key idea is what is called Euler's identity:

ei = cos() + i sin()

Euler's identity encodes a lot of information. Here is one application:

Exponential rules state

ei(+) = ei ei .

Expanding out both sides with Euler's identity yields

cos( + ) + i sin( + ) = [cos() + i sin()]

[cos() + i sin()].

Multiplying out and simplifying yields

i [cos() sin() + sin() cos()].

cos( + ) + i sin( + ) = [cos() cos() sin() sin()] +

Setting the real and imaginary parts equal yields

sin( + ) = cos() sin() + sin() cos()

cos( + ) = cos() cos() sin() sin(),

and

 these are exactly the addition formulas for sine and

cosine!

What this means is that the rather strange-looking trigonometric addition formulas [which, we
should agree, seem pretty weird and arbitrary when rst encountered] actually just reect the natural
structure of the multiplication of complex numbers.

(ei )n = ei(n) .
n
cos(n) + i sin(n) = [cos() + i sin()] .

Another application is the simple relation

identity

Writing out both sides gives De Moivre's

n and then expanding out the right-hand side via the Binomial Theorem
sin(n) and cos(n) in terms of sin() and cos().


2
cos(2) + i sin(2) = [cos() + i sin()] = cos2 sin2 + i (2 sin cos ), and so we

Plugging in various values of

allows one to obtain identities for

Example:

recover the double-angle formulas for sine and cosine.

Even setting

tells us something very interesting: we obtain

The constants 0, 1,

i, e,

and

ei = 1,

ei + 1 = 0

or, better,

are, without a doubt, the ve most important numbers in all of

mathematics.

That there exists one simple equation relating all ve of them is (to the author at least) quite
amazing.

Using Euler's identity and the polar form of complex numbers above, we see that every complex number can
be written as

z = r ei

Example: We can draw

,
arg(1 + i) =
4

, in exponential form.

1+i

in the complex plane, or use the formulas, to see that

and so we see that

1+i=

2e

i/4



1 i 3 = 2

and

and

arg(1 i 3) = ,
3

hence

It is very easy to take powers of complex numbers when they are in exponential form, since we can clearly
write

(r ei )n = rn ei(n) .
(1 + i)8 .
4
2i
= 2 e
= 16 .

Example: We compute

( 2)8 e8i/4
eight times.

Example: We compute

512 e3i = 512

Example: Either by geometry or trigonometry, we see that

1 + i 3 = 2 ei/3

|1 + i| =

From above we have

1+i =

2 ei/4 ,

so

(1 + i)8 =

Note how much easier this is compared to multiplying

(1i 3)9 .

From above we have

8
2 ei/4 =
(1 + i) by itself

1+i 3 = 2ei/3 , so (1+i 3)9 = 29 e9i/3 =

Taking roots of complex numbers is also easy. We do need to be slightly careful, since (like having 2 choices
of sign for a square root), there are

dierent

The general formula says that the

through

nth

roots of any nonzero complex number.

n possible nth

roots of

z = r ei

are

r ei[ n +

2k
n

, where

One can check that the

nth

power of all of these numbers is indeed

formula. And they are clearly all distinct, and so they are all of the

r ei ,

nth

since

e2ik = 1

ranges

Example: The three cube roots of 1 are

by Euler's

roots.

e2ki/3 , for k = 0, 1, 2. Plugging in to Euler's

1
3
1
3
that they are, explicitly, 1, +
i,
i.
2
2
2
2

Example: The two square roots of 2i = 2ei/2 are 2 ei[/4+k] for k = 0, 1. Plugging
out shows that the square roots are 1 + i, 1 i .

0, 1, , n 1.

formula shows

in and writing

Well, you're at the end of my handout. Hope it was helpful.

Copyright notice: This material is copyright Evan Dummit, 2012. You may not reproduce or distribute this material
without my express permission.