Abstract
Chapter 3 shows how equations that have no real roots give rise to imaginary numbers that square to −1, which, in turn, lead to complex numbers. Definitions and examples are given for adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing complex numbers. Further sections introduce concepts of the norm, complex conjugate, inverse and square-root of a complex number. Finally, it is shown how a complex number is represented as an ordered pair and as a matrix. The chapter summarises key formulae and contains some useful worked examples.
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Descartes, R.: La Géométrie (1637). There is an English translation by Michael Mahoney: Dover, New York (1979).
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© 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited
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Vince, J. (2011). Complex Numbers. In: Quaternions for Computer Graphics. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-760-0_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-760-0_3
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-85729-759-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-85729-760-0
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