FREQUENTLYASKEDQUESTIONSONCOMPLEXANALYSIS

PREPAREDBYPROFESSORBENM.CHEN
DepartmentofElectricalandComputerEngineering
NationalUniversityofSingapore
UPDATE:NOVEMBER10,2009

1. WhataretheCauchyRiemanequationsfor?

Givenacomplexfunction f ( z ) f ( x iy ) u ( x, y ) iv( x, y ) ,CauchyRiemanequationsor

2. Whydowehavetoforcethecomplexderivativeofagivenfunctiontobeidenticalineverydi
rectiononthecomplexplane?

Thecomplexderivativeiswithrespectto z x iy .Itisa2Ddifferentiation.

3. IftheCauchyRiemanequationsorconditionsaresatisfiedforagivenfunctionatapoint,say
z0 ,canyouconcludethatthefunctionisanalyticat z0 ?

No.Afunctionf(z)issaidtobeanalyticatapoint z0 ifitisanalyticinaneighborhoodof z0 .

4. Iff(z)isanalyticatz0,willthepointsatitsneighborhood,saypointAforinstance,alsobe
analytic?

It depends. The fact that f(z) is analytic at z0 implies that the function is analytic in the
neighborhoodofz0(seeQ.3above).However,theradiusofsuchaneighborhoodmightbe
infinitesimal.Thus,anyfixedpointAmightnotnecessarilyanalytic.

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5. Sincealmostalltheformulaweuserequiresf(z)tobeanalyticinitsdomain,doweneedto
provef(z)isanalyticeverytimeweapplytheformula?

Yes,itisindeedthatinmanyformulaewehaveinthelectures,whichrequirethefunctionof
interest,e.g.,f(z),tobeanalytic.Wedoneedtojustifythatf(z)isanalyticwhenrequired.In
manysituations,however,wecanprovebythefollowingobservations:

1. Thesumorproductofanalyticfunctionsisanalytic;
2. Allpolynomialsareanalytic;
3. Arationalfunctionisanalytic,exceptatzeroesofthedenominator;
4. Ananalyticfunctionofananalyticfunctionisanalytic;
5. Functions e z , sin z , cos z , sinh z , cosh z areanalyticeverywhere.

SideNote: Formulae that require certain functions integrated being analytical include the
CauchysIntegralTheorem,i.e.,

f ( z )dz 0
C

whichrequiresf(z)beinganalyticonandinsideC,andalsoCauchysintegralformula,i.e.,

f ( z) f ( n ) ( z0 )
C ( z z0 )n1 dz 2 i n !

whichrequiresf(z)beinganalyticonandinsideCaswell.However,notethatintheabove
formula,theoverallfunctionintegrated,i.e.,
f ( z)

( z z0 ) n 1

isnotanalyticat z z0 for n 0.

Ontheotherhand,thefollowingformula

C f ( z )dz 2 i Res( f , z0 ) or C f ( z )dz 2 i Res( f , zk )

doesnotrequiref(z)beinganalytic.Actually,wearemoreinterestedinthesituationthat
f(z)isnotanalyticforcertainpoints(singularpoints)insideC.

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6. Toprovethatf(z)isanalytic,isthereothermethodbesidesCauchyRiemanequations?

Yes,anotherapproachotherthanthedirectutilizationoftheCauchyRiemanequationsfor
proving a function being analytic is to find all its singular points in the region of interest.
Rememberthat

Afunctioniseitheranalyticorsingularatanygivenpoint.

Ifwecanshowthatthefunctionhasnosingularpointsintheregionofinterest.Wecancon
cludethatitisanalyticinsidetheregion.

Asmentionedinpreviousquestion,inmanysituations,wearemoreinterestedinfocusing
onthesingularpointsofthefunction.Infact,itisthesingularitythatmakescomplexanaly
sisaninterestingsubject.

7. TogettheLaurentseriesexpansionof e1 z ,itseemswejustneedtoreplacezwith1/zinthe
Taylor series expansion of e z . Why is it valid to do such a substitution directly? Can we use
suchanapproachfortheexpansionofotherfunctions?

SuchanapproachisvalidbecausetheTaylorseriesexpansionorLaurentseriesexpansion
of a function, if existent, is unique. Hence, no matter what methods you use to derive the
TaylorseriesorLaurentseriesexpansionofagivenfunction,alltheanswerswillturnoutto
bethesame.Youcanusesuchanapproachinfindingtheseriesexpansionofanyfunction.

HereisanexampleonfindingtheTaylorseriesfor f ( z ) 1/( z 2 z ) on z 1 1 :

1
1 1 1 1 1 2
f ( z)
z z z ( z 1) z 1 z 1 (1 z ) 1 z
2 1
2
1 1 z 1 z 1 z
2 3
1 (1 z ) (1 z ) 2 (1 z )3 1
2 2 2 2
1 z 1 z 1 z 1
2 3
1 ( z 1) ( z 1) ( z 1) 1
2 3

2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1
1 1 2 ( z 1) 1 3 ( z 1)2 1 4 ( z 1)3
2 2 2 2

We note that the first series converges on z 1 1 and the second series converges on
(1 z ) / 2 1 ,whichisequivalentto z 1 2 .Inoverall,wecanonlyguaranteethesumof
thesetwoseriesconvergeson z 1 1 .

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