UNIT 1:

REAL AND COMPLEX NUMBERS

Polytechnic School of Mieres

University of Oviedo
Contents

1 Introduction:
Review of some algebraic structures.

2 Complex numbers:
The field of complex numbers.
Modulus and argument. Polar form.
Powers and roots.
Contents

1 Introduction:
Review of some algebraic structures.

2 Complex numbers:
The field of complex numbers.
Modulus and argument. Polar form.
Powers and roots.
Operation on a set

Definition 1.1
Given a set A 6= ∅, a (closed) binary operation on A is a function from
the Cartesian product A × A in A:

∗: A × A −→ A
(a, b) → a ∗ b = c ∈ A
Sets and laws

Example 1.1
Which of the following mappings are binary operations?
a) Addition of natural numbers.
b) Substraction of natural numbers.
c) Multiplication of rational numbers.
d) Multiplication of irrational numbers.
e) Multiplication of real numbers.
f) Division of real numbers.
Groups

Definition 1.2
A group is an algebraic structure consisting of a set G and a binary
operation ∗, (G , ∗), satisfying the following properties:
a) Associativity: a ∗ (b ∗ c) = (a ∗ b) ∗ c ∀a, b, c ∈ G .
b) Identity element: ∃e ∈ G such that a ∗ e = e ∗ a = a ∀a ∈ G .
c) Inverse element: ∀a ∈ G ∃a0 ∈ G such that a ∗ a0 = a0 ∗ a = e.
If ∗ is commutative (a ∗ b = b ∗ a ∀a, b ∈ G ), then we say that the group
is commutative or Abelian.
Some groups

Example 1.2
Which of the following structures are groups?

a) (N, +). f) (Q, ·).

b) (N, ·). g) (Q \ {0}, ·).
c) (Z, +). h) (R, +).
d) (Z, ·). i) (R, ·).
e) (Q, +). j) (R \ {0}, ·).
Field

Definition 1.3
An algebraic structure consisting of a set and two operations, (K, +, ◦), is
a field when
(K, +) is an Abelian group (whose identity element we denote by 0),
(K \ {0}, ◦) is a group (whose identity element we denote by 1),
◦ distributes over +, that is,

(a + b) ◦ c = a ◦ c + b ◦ c ∀a, b, c ∈ K.

When the second operation, ◦, is commutative, we say that (K, +, ◦) is a

commutative field.
Some fields

Example 1.3
Which of the following structures are fields?
a) (N, +, ·).
b) (Z, +, ·).
c) (Q, +, ·).
d) (R, +, ·).
e) (Mn×n (R), +, ·).
Contents

1 Introduction:
Review of some algebraic structures.

2 Complex numbers:
The field of complex numbers.
Modulus and argument. Polar form.
Powers and roots.
The field of complex numbers

Definition 1.4
Consider the set R2 and define two operations (addition and
multiplication) as follows:
(a, b) + (c, d) = (a + c, b + d);
(a, b) · (c, d) = (a · c − b · d, a · d + b · c).
The structure (R2 , +, ·) is represented by C.
The structure of C

Theorem 1.1
The set C with the addition and multiplication operations, + and ·, satisfy
the following properties:
1 (C, +) is an Abelian group.
2 (C \ {(0, 0)}, ·) is an Abelian group.
3 · distributes over +:
(z1 + z2 ) · z3 = z1 · z3 + z2 · z3 ∀z1 , z2 , z3 ∈ C.
Thus, (C, +, ·) is a commutative field.
R ⊆ C?

There exists a one-to-one correspondence from the field R and the

subset of C consisting of the complex numbers of the form (a, 0).

Denoting i = (0, 1), we can rewrite (a, b) = (a, 0) + (b, 0)(0, 1) as

(a, b) = a + bi, that is called its rectangular form.

The complex number i = (0, 1) is known as the imaginary unit.

Notice that i 2 = i · i = (0, 1) · (0, 1) = (−1, 0), that in rectangular
notation means that i 2 = −1. This property is not satisfied by any real
number, and it is thanks to it that we can calculate complex square roots
of negative real numbers.
Definitions

Given z = a + bi ∈ C, its real part

is Re(z) = a and its imaginary
part is Im(z) = b.

The x-axis is the real axis whereas

the y -axis is the imaginary axis.

The complex conjugate of z is

z̄ = a − bi, that is symmetric to z
with respect to the real axis.
Conjugation properties

Theorem 1.2
For all complex numbers z, z1 and z2 , it holds that
1 z1 + z2 = z1 + z2 ;
2 z1 · z2 = z1 · z2 ;
3 z = z;
4 z = z ⇐⇒ z ∈ R;
z +z z −z
5 Re(z) = ; Im(z) = .
2 2i
Examples

Example 1.4
Find the real and imaginary parts of (1 − 2i)(1 − i).

Example 1.5
5−i
Represent the complex number in rectangular form.
1−i
Examples

Example 1.6
Let z, w ∈ C be any complex numbers. Study which of the following
properties hold true:
a) Re(z · w ) = Re(z) · Re(w );
b) Re(z · i) = −Im(z);
z  Im(z)
c) Im = when Im(w ) 6= 0.
w Im(w )
Modulus

The modulus of z ∈ C is
q
|z| = Re(z)2 + Im(z)2 .

Theorem 1.3
For all complex numbers z1 and z2 , it holds that
1 |z1 | = |z1 |;
2 |z1 · z2 | = |z1 | · |z2 |;
z1 |z1 |
3 = if z2 6= 0;
z2 |z2 |
4 z1 · z1 = |z1 |2 ;
5 |z1 + z2 | ≤ |z1 | + |z2 | (triangular inequality);
6 |z1 | ≥ 0; moreover, |z1 | = 0 ⇔ z1 = 0.
Examples

Example 1.7
Plot the following numbers on the complex plane and find their moduli:
a) 2 + i;
b) 2;
c) −2;
d) 3i.
Argument

Given z ∈ C nonzero, α ∈ R is an
argument of z if
z = |z| · (cos(α) + i sin(α)).

The unique argument of z that

belongs to the interval (−π, π] is
known as its principal argument.
Polar form

Let z ∈ C be a complex number with modulus r = |z| and some argument

α ∈ R. Then z = r · (cos(α) + i sin(α)) and its polar form is

z = r |α .

Example 1.8
Write the following numbers in polar form and plot them on the complex
plane:
a) 1 − i;
b) −1;
c) −i;
√
d) 1 + 3i.
Complex exponential function

Definition 1.5
The complex exponential function is defined by

e z = exp(z) = e x (cos(y ) + i sin(y )) for z = x + iy ∈ C.

Remark 1.1
Polar form of the complex exponential:
The modulus of exp(z) is | exp(z)| = e x , and y is an argument of its.
Complex exponential of a pure imaginary number:
If z = 0 + iy , with y ∈ R, then e iy = cos(y ) + i sin(y ) and, in
particular, its modulus is |e iy | = 1.
Complex exponential of a real number:
If z = x + i0, with x ∈ R, then e z = e x ; that is, the complex
exponential function is an extension of the real exponential.
Example

Example 1.9
Write in rectangular form
a) e iπ ;
b) e 2+iπ/2 ;
c) e iπ/4 .
Exponential form

Let z ∈ C be a complex number with modulus |z| = r and an argument θ.

Then
z = r · e iθ .
This notation is known as the exponential form of the complex number.

Example 1.10
Write the following complex numbers in exponential form:
a) 1 − i;
b) −1;
c) −i;
√
d) 1 + 3i.
Operations with complex numbers in exponential form

Theorem 1.4
Let z1 = r1 · e iθ1 and z2 = r2 · e iθ2 be two complex numbers. Then

z1 · z2 = (r1 · r2 ) · e i(θ1 +θ2 )

and, when z2 6= 0,
z1 r1
= · e i(θ1 −θ2 ) .
z2 r2

Consequence: If z = r · e iθ 6= 0, then
1 1
= · e −iθ .
z r
Examples

Example 1.11
Working with exponential forms, calculate
a) (1 + i)2 ;
√
3+i
b) .
1+i

Example 1.12
Using the exponential forms, compute
√ √
a) ( 3 + i)(1 + 3i);
b) (1 − i)2 ;
√
− 3+i
c) √ .
2 + 2 3i
Powers

Theorem 1.5
For any z = r · e iθ 6= 0 and m ∈ Z, it holds

z m = r m · e imθ .

De Möivre’s formula:

(cos(θ) + i sin(θ))n = cos(nθ) + i sin(nθ).

Examples

Example 1.13
Use the exponential form to calculate the following powers:
a) (1 + i)9 ;
b) (−1 + i)17 ;
√
c) (1 − 3i)15 ;
d) i 1023 .
Roots

Theorem 1.6
For any z = r · e iθ 6= 0 and n ∈ N, there are exactly n different n-th roots
of z: √ θ+2kπ
wk = n r · e i n for k = 0, . . . , n − 1.
Examples

Example 1.14
Find the following roots and plot them on the complex plane:
√
a) 4 i;
√
b) 3 −1;
√
c) 3 2i.

Example 1.15
Solve the following equations:
a) z 2 = i;
b) z 4 = −1;
c) z 3 = 1 + i;
√
d) z 5 = 1 + 3i.
Fundamental theorem of Algebra
Let p(x) = a0 + a1 x + a2 x 2 + · · · + an x n be a polynomial with complex
coefficients and degree n (i.e. a0 , a1 , . . . , an ∈ C and an 6= 0).

Theorem 1.7
There exist x1 , x2 , . . . , xk ∈ C such that

p(x) = an (x − x1 )n1 (x − x2 )n2 · · · (x − xk )nk ,

where n1 , n2 , . . . , nk ∈ N with nj ≥ 1 and n1 + n2 + · · · + nk = n.

In other words, p has k different roots x1 , x2 , . . . , xk ∈ C with respective

multiplicities n1 , n2 , . . . , nk ∈ N (nj ≥ 1) such that n1 + n2 + · · · + nk = n.
That is, counting multiplicity, p has n complex roots.
Remark 1.2
If a0 , a1 , . . . , an ∈ R and xj ∈ C is root of p with multiplicity nj , then also
xj is a root of p and has the same multiplicity nj .
Examples

Example 1.16
Factor the polynomial

p(z) = z 3 − 4z 2 + 6z − 4.

Example 1.17
Factor the polynomial
q(z) = z 2 − 2iz + 1.