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The imaginary unit or unit imaginary number (Template:Mvar) is a mathematical constant that is a solution to the quadratic equation Template:Math Although there is no real number with this property, Template:Mvar can be used to extend the real numbers to what are called complex numbers, using addition and multiplication. A simple example of the use of Template:Mvar in a complex number is Template:Math
Imaginary numbers are an important mathematical concept; they extend the real number system <math>\mathbb{R}</math> to the complex number system <math>\mathbb{C},</math> in which at least one root for every nonconstant polynomial exists (see Algebraic closure and Fundamental theorem of algebra). Here, the term imaginary is used because there is no real number having a negative square.
There are two complex square roots of Template:Math Template:Mvar and Template:Math, just as there are two complex square roots of every real number other than zero (which has one double square root).
In contexts in which use of the letter Template:Mvar is ambiguous or problematic, the letter Template:Mvar is sometimes used instead. For example, in electrical engineering and control systems engineering, the imaginary unit is normally denoted by Template:Mvar instead of Template:Mvar, because Template:Mvar is commonly used to denote electric current.<ref>Template:Cite book Template:Pb Template:Cite book</ref>
TerminologyEdit
Template:Further Square roots of negative numbers are called imaginary because in early-modern mathematics, only what are now called real numbers, obtainable by physical measurements or basic arithmetic, were considered to be numbers at all – even negative numbers were treated with skepticism – so the square root of a negative number was previously considered undefined or nonsensical. The name imaginary is generally credited to René Descartes, and Isaac Newton used the term as early as 1670.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite OED</ref> The Template:Mvar notation was introduced by Leonhard Euler.<ref name=Boyer>Template:Cite book</ref>
A unit is an undivided whole, and unity or the unit number is the number one (Template:Math).
DefinitionEdit
| The powers of Template:Mvar are cyclic: |
|---|
| <math>\ \vdots</math> |
| <math>\ i^{-4} = \phantom-1\phantom{i}</math> |
| <math>\ i^{-3} = \phantom-i\phantom1</math> |
| <math>\ i^{-2} = -1\phantom{i}</math> |
| <math>\ i^{-1} = -i\phantom1</math> |
| <math>\ \ i^{0}\ = \phantom-1\phantom{i}</math> |
| <math>\ \ i^{1}\ = \phantom-i\phantom1</math> |
| <math>\ \ i^{2}\ = -1\phantom{i}</math> |
| <math>\ \ i^{3}\ = -i\phantom1</math> |
| <math>\ \ i^{4}\ = \phantom-1\phantom{i}</math> |
| <math>\ \ i^{5}\ = \phantom-i\phantom1</math> |
| <math>\ \ i^{6}\ = -1\phantom{i}</math> |
| <math>\ \ i^{7}\ = -i\phantom1</math> |
| <math>\ \vdots</math> |
The imaginary unit Template:Mvar is defined solely by the property that its square is −1: <math display=block>i^2 = -1.</math>
With Template:Mvar defined this way, it follows directly from algebra that Template:Mvar and Template:Math are both square roots of −1.
Although the construction is called imaginary, and although the concept of an imaginary number may be intuitively more difficult to grasp than that of a real number, the construction is valid from a mathematical standpoint. Real number operations can be extended to imaginary and complex numbers, by treating Template:Mvar as an unknown quantity while manipulating an expression (and using the definition to replace any occurrence of Template:Math with Template:Math). Higher integral powers of Template:Mvar are thus <math display=block>\begin{alignat}{3} i^3 &= i^2 i &&= (-1) i &&= -i, \\[3mu] i^4 &= i^3 i &&= \;\!(-i) i &&= \ \,1, \\[3mu] i^5 &= i^4 i &&= \ \, (1) i &&= \ \ i, \end{alignat}</math> and so on, cycling through the four values Template:Math, Template:Mvar, Template:Math, and Template:Math. As with any non-zero real number, Template:Math
As a complex number, Template:Mvar can be represented in rectangular form as Template:Math, with a zero real component and a unit imaginary component. In polar form, Template:Mvar can be represented as Template:Math (or just Template:Math), with an absolute value (or magnitude) of 1 and an argument (or angle) of <math>\tfrac\pi2</math> radians. (Adding any integer multiple of Template:Math to this angle works as well.) In the complex plane, which is a special interpretation of a Cartesian plane, Template:Mvar is the point located one unit from the origin along the imaginary axis (which is perpendicular to the real axis).
Template:Math vs. Template:MathEdit
Template:Anchor Being a quadratic polynomial with no multiple root, the defining equation Template:Math has Template:Em distinct solutions, which are equally valid and which happen to be additive and multiplicative inverses of each other. Although the two solutions are distinct numbers, their properties are indistinguishable; there is no property that one has that the other does not. One of these two solutions is labelled Template:Math (or simply Template:Mvar) and the other is labelled Template:Math, though it is inherently ambiguous which is which.
The only differences between Template:Math and Template:Math arise from this labelling. For example, by convention Template:Math is said to have an argument of <math>+\tfrac\pi2</math> and Template:Math is said to have an argument of <math>-\tfrac\pi2,</math> related to the convention of labelling orientations in the Cartesian plane relative to the positive Template:Mvar-axis with positive angles turning anticlockwise in the direction of the positive Template:Mvar-axis. Also, despite the signs written with them, neither Template:Math nor Template:Math is inherently positive or negative in the sense that real numbers are.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
A more formal expression of this indistinguishability of Template:Math and Template:Math is that, although the complex field is unique (as an extension of the real numbers) up to isomorphism, it is Template:Em unique up to a Template:Em isomorphism. That is, there are two field automorphisms of the complex numbers <math>\C</math> that keep each real number fixed, namely the identity and complex conjugation. For more on this general phenomenon, see Galois group.
MatricesEdit
Using the concepts of matrices and matrix multiplication, complex numbers can be represented in linear algebra. The real unit Template:Math and imaginary unit Template:Mvar can be represented by any pair of matrices Template:Mvar and Template:Mvar satisfying Template:Math Template:Math and Template:Math Then a complex number Template:Math can be represented by the matrix Template:Math and all of the ordinary rules of complex arithmetic can be derived from the rules of matrix arithmetic.
The most common choice is to represent Template:Math and Template:Mvar by the Template:Math identity matrix Template:Mvar and the matrix Template:Mvar,
<math display=block> I = \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix}, \quad J = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & -1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}.</math>
Then an arbitrary complex number Template:Math can be represented by:
<math display=block>aI + bJ = \begin{pmatrix} a & -b \\ b & a \end{pmatrix}.</math>
More generally, any real-valued Template:Math matrix with a trace of zero and a determinant of one squares to Template:Math, so could be chosen for Template:Mvar. Larger matrices could also be used; for example, Template:Math could be represented by the Template:Math identity matrix and Template:Mvar could be represented by any of the Dirac matrices for spatial dimensions.
Root of Template:MathEdit
Polynomials (weighted sums of the powers of a variable) are a basic tool in algebra. Polynomials whose coefficients are real numbers form a ring, denoted <math>\R[x],</math> an algebraic structure with addition and multiplication and sharing many properties with the ring of integers.
The polynomial <math>x^2 + 1</math> has no real-number roots, but the set of all real-coefficient polynomials divisible by <math>x^2 + 1</math> forms an ideal, and so there is a quotient ring <math>\reals[x] / \langle x^2 + 1\rangle.</math> This quotient ring is isomorphic to the complex numbers, and the variable <math>x</math> expresses the imaginary unit.
Graphic representationEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The complex numbers can be represented graphically by drawing the real number line as the horizontal axis and the imaginary numbers as the vertical axis of a Cartesian plane called the complex plane. In this representation, the numbers Template:Math and Template:Mvar are at the same distance from Template:Math, with a right angle between them. Addition by a complex number corresponds to translation in the plane, while multiplication by a unit-magnitude complex number corresponds to rotation about the origin. Every similarity transformation of the plane can be represented by a complex-linear function <math>z \mapsto az + b.</math>
Geometric algebraEdit
In the geometric algebra of the Euclidean plane, the geometric product or quotient of two arbitrary vectors is a sum of a scalar (real number) part and a bivector part. (A scalar is a quantity with no orientation, a vector is a quantity oriented like a line, and a bivector is a quantity oriented like a plane.) The square of any vector is a positive scalar, representing its length squared, while the square of any bivector is a negative scalar.
The quotient of a vector with itself is the scalar Template:Math, and when multiplied by any vector leaves it unchanged (the identity transformation). The quotient of any two perpendicular vectors of the same magnitude, Template:Math, which when multiplied rotates the divisor a quarter turn into the dividend, Template:Math, is a unit bivector which squares to Template:Math, and can thus be taken as a representative of the imaginary unit. Any sum of a scalar and bivector can be multiplied by a vector to scale and rotate it, and the algebra of such sums is isomorphic to the algebra of complex numbers. In this interpretation points, vectors, and sums of scalars and bivectors are all distinct types of geometric objects.<ref>The interpretation of the imaginary unit as the ratio of two perpendicular vectors was proposed by Hermann Grassmann in the foreword to his Ausdehnungslehre of 1844; later William Clifford realized that this ratio could be interpreted as a bivector. Template:Pb Template:Cite book</ref>
More generally, in the geometric algebra of any higher-dimensional Euclidean space, a unit bivector of any arbitrary planar orientation squares to Template:Math, so can be taken to represent the imaginary unit Template:Mvar.
Proper useEdit
The imaginary unit was historically written <math display=inline>\sqrt{-1},</math> and still is in some modern works. However, great care needs to be taken when manipulating formulas involving radicals. The radical sign notation <math display=inline>\sqrt{x}</math> is reserved either for the principal square root function, which is defined for only real Template:Math or for the principal branch of the complex square root function. Attempting to apply the calculation rules of the principal (real) square root function to manipulate the principal branch of the complex square root function can produce false results:<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> <math display=block>-1 = i \cdot i = \sqrt{-1} \cdot \sqrt{-1} \mathrel{\stackrel{\mathrm{fallacy}}{=}} {\textstyle \sqrt{(-1) \cdot (-1)}} = \sqrt{1} = 1 \qquad \text{(incorrect).}</math>
Generally, the calculation rules <math display=inline>\sqrt{x\vphantom{ty}} \cdot\! \sqrt{y\vphantom{ty}} = \sqrt{x \cdot y\vphantom{ty}}</math> and <math display=inline>\sqrt{x\vphantom{ty}}\big/\!\sqrt{y\vphantom{ty}} = \sqrt{x/y}</math> are guaranteed to be valid only for real, positive values of Template:Mvar and Template:Mvar.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
When Template:Mvar or Template:Mvar is real but negative, these problems can be avoided by writing and manipulating expressions like <math display=inline>i \sqrt{7}</math>, rather than <math display=inline>\sqrt{-7}</math>. For a more thorough discussion, see the articles Square root and Branch point.
PropertiesEdit
As a complex number, the imaginary unit follows all of the rules of complex arithmetic.
Imaginary integers and imaginary numbersEdit
When the imaginary unit is repeatedly added or subtracted, the result is some integer times the imaginary unit, an imaginary integer; any such numbers can be added and the result is also an imaginary integer:
<math display=block>ai + bi = (a + b)i.</math>
Thus, the imaginary unit is the generator of a group under addition, specifically an infinite cyclic group.
The imaginary unit can also be multiplied by any arbitrary real number to form an imaginary number. These numbers can be pictured on a number line, the imaginary axis, which as part of the complex plane is typically drawn with a vertical orientation, perpendicular to the real axis which is drawn horizontally.
Gaussian integersEdit
Integer sums of the real unit Template:Math and the imaginary unit Template:Mvar form a square lattice in the complex plane called the Gaussian integers. The sum, difference, or product of Gaussian integers is also a Gaussian integer:
<math display=block>\begin{align} (a + bi) + (c + di) &= (a + c) + (b + d)i, \\[5mu] (a + bi)(c + di) &= (ac - bd) + (ad + bc)i. \end{align}</math>
Quarter-turn rotationEdit
When multiplied by the imaginary unit Template:Mvar, any arbitrary complex number in the complex plane is rotated by a quarter turn Template:Nobr or Template:Math) anticlockwise. When multiplied by Template:Math, any arbitrary complex number is rotated by a quarter turn clockwise. In polar form:
<math display=block>i \, re^{\varphi i} = re^{(\varphi + \pi/2)i}, \quad
-i \, re^{\varphi i} = re^{(\varphi - \pi/2)i}.</math>
In rectangular form,
<math display=block> i(a + bi) = -b + ai, \quad -i(a + bi) = b - ai.</math>
Integer powersEdit
The powers of Template:Mvar repeat in a cycle expressible with the following pattern, where Template:Mvar is any integer:
<math display=block> i^{4n} = 1, \quad i^{4n+1} = i, \quad i^{4n+2} = -1, \quad i^{4n+3} = -i.</math>
Thus, under multiplication, Template:Mvar is a generator of a cyclic group of order 4, a discrete subgroup of the continuous circle group of the unit complex numbers under multiplication.
Written as a special case of Euler's formula for an integer Template:Mvar,
<math display=block> i^n = {\exp}\bigl(\tfrac12\pi i\bigr)^n
= {\exp}\bigl(\tfrac12 n \pi i\bigr)
= {\cos}\bigl(\tfrac12 n\pi \bigr) + {i \sin}\bigl(\tfrac12 n\pi \bigr).
</math>
With a careful choice of branch cuts and principal values, this last equation can also apply to arbitrary complex values of Template:Mvar, including cases like Template:Math.Template:Cn
RootsEdit
Just like all nonzero complex numbers, <math display=inline>i = e^{\pi i/ 2}</math> has two distinct square roots which are additive inverses. In polar form, they are <math display=block>\begin{alignat}{3} \sqrt{i} &= {\exp}\bigl(\tfrac12{\pi i}\bigr)^{1/2} &&{}= {\exp}\bigl(\tfrac14\pi i\bigr), \\ -\sqrt{i} &= {\exp}\bigl(\tfrac14{\pi i}-\pi i\bigr) &&{}= {\exp}\bigl({-\tfrac34\pi i}\bigr). \end{alignat}</math>
In rectangular form, they areTemplate:Efn</math> and <math>x=-\tfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}</math>. Substituting either of these results into the equation Template:Math in turn, we will get the corresponding result for Template:Mvar. Thus, the square roots of Template:Mvar are the numbers <math>\tfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}} + \tfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}i</math> and <math>-\tfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}-\tfrac{1}{\sqrt{2}}i</math>.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>}}
<math display=block>\begin{alignat}{3} \sqrt{i} &= \frac{1 + i}{ \sqrt{2}} &&{}= \phantom{-}\tfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2} + \tfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2}i, \\[5mu] -\sqrt{i} &= - \frac{1 + i}{ \sqrt{2}} &&{}= - \tfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2} - \tfrac{\sqrt{2}}{2}i. \end{alignat}</math>
Squaring either expression yields <math display=block> \left( \pm \frac{1 + i}{\sqrt2} \right)^2 = \frac{1 + 2i - 1}{2} = \frac{2i}{2} = i. </math>
The three cube roots of Template:Mvar are<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
<math display=block> \sqrt[3]i = {\exp}\bigl(\tfrac16 \pi i\bigr) = \tfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2} + \tfrac12i, \quad
{\exp}\bigl(\tfrac56 \pi i\bigr) = -\tfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2} + \tfrac12i, \quad
{\exp}\bigl({-\tfrac12 \pi i}\bigr) = -i.
</math>
For a general positive integer Template:Mvar, the [[nth root|Template:Mvar-th roots]] of Template:Mvar are, for Template:Math <math display=block> \exp \left(2 \pi i \frac{k+\frac14}{n} \right) = \cos \left(\frac{4k+1}{2n}\pi \right) +
i \sin \left(\frac{4k+1}{2n}\pi \right).
</math> The value associated with Template:Math is the principal Template:Mvar-th root of Template:Mvar. The set of roots equals the corresponding set of roots of unity rotated by the principal Template:Mvar-th root of Template:Mvar. These are the vertices of a regular polygon inscribed within the complex unit circle.
Exponential and logarithmEdit
The complex exponential function relates complex addition in the domain to complex multiplication in the codomain. Real values in the domain represent scaling in the codomain (multiplication by a real scalar) with Template:Math representing multiplication by Template:Mvar, while imaginary values in the domain represent rotation in the codomain (multiplication by a unit complex number) with Template:Mvar representing a rotation by Template:Math radian. The complex exponential is thus a periodic function in the imaginary direction, with period Template:Math and image Template:Math at points Template:Math for all integers Template:Mvar, a real multiple of the lattice of imaginary integers.
The complex exponential can be broken into even and odd components, the hyperbolic functions Template:Math and Template:Math or the trigonometric functions Template:Math and Template:Math:
<math display=block>\exp z = \cosh z + \sinh z = \cos(-iz) + i\sin(-iz)</math>
Euler's formula decomposes the exponential of an imaginary number representing a rotation:
<math display="block">\exp i\varphi = \cos \varphi + i\sin \varphi.</math>
This fact can be used to demonstrate, among other things, the apparently counterintuitive result that <math>i^i</math> is a real number.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The quotient Template:Math with appropriate scaling, can be represented as an infinite partial fraction decomposition as the sum of reciprocal functions translated by imaginary integers:<ref>Euler expressed the partial fraction decomposition of the trigonometric cotangent as <math display="inline">\pi \cot \pi z = \frac1z + \frac1{z-1} + \frac1{z+1} + \frac1{z-2} + \frac1{z+2} + \cdots .</math> Template:Pb Template:Cite journal</ref> <math display="block"> \pi \coth \pi z = \lim_{n\to\infty}\sum_{k=-n}^n \frac{1}{z + ki}. </math>
Other functions based on the complex exponential are well-defined with imaginary inputs. For example, a number raised to the Template:Mvar power is: <math display="block">x^{n i} = \cos(n\ln x) + i \sin(n\ln x ).</math>
Because the exponential is periodic, its inverse the complex logarithm is a multi-valued function, with each complex number in the domain corresponding to multiple values in the codomain, separated from each-other by any integer multiple of Template:Math One way of obtaining a single-valued function is to treat the codomain as a cylinder, with complex values separated by any integer multiple of Template:Math treated as the same value; another is to take the domain to be a Riemann surface consisting of multiple copies of the complex plane stitched together along the negative real axis as a branch cut, with each branch in the domain corresponding to one infinite strip in the codomain.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Functions depending on the complex logarithm therefore depend on careful choice of branch to define and evaluate clearly.
For example, if one chooses any branch where <math>\ln i = \tfrac12 \pi i</math> then when Template:Mvar is a positive real number, <math display=block> \log_i x = -\frac{2i \ln x }{\pi}.</math>
FactorialEdit
The factorial of the imaginary unit Template:Mvar is most often given in terms of the gamma function evaluated at Template:Math:<ref>Template:Cite journal Template:Pb Sloane, N. J. A. (ed.). "Decimal expansion of the real part of i!", Sequence A212877; and "Decimal expansion of the negated imaginary part of i!", Sequence A212878. The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. OEIS Foundation.</ref>
<math display=block>i! = \Gamma(1+i) = i\Gamma(i) \approx 0.4980 - 0.1549\,i.</math>
The magnitude and argument of this number are:<ref>Sloane, N. J. A. (ed.). "Decimal expansion of the absolute value of i!", Sequence A212879; and "Decimal expansion of the negated argument of i!", Sequence A212880. The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. OEIS Foundation.</ref>
<math display=block> |\Gamma(1+i)| = \sqrt{\frac{\pi}{ \sinh \pi}} \approx 0.5216, \quad \arg{\Gamma(1+i)} \approx -0.3016. </math>
See alsoEdit
- Hyperbolic unit
- Right versor in quaternions
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
External linksEdit
- {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }} at {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}