Basic Mathematical concepts for electrical engineering

Engineering can be described as the physical application of mathematics and

physics. In order for an engineering professional to “apply their craft” they need
a sound foundation in mathematical principles and techniques. In this module we
will review some basic mathematical concepts and techniques required to analyse
and explain simple alternating current (A.C.) circuits.

Co-ordinate systems –
We should have all seen that we can plot or represent an ordered pair of numbers
using an x-y plane. For example the point A = (3,5) can be represented as

From this diagram we can see the following key points -

 We have moved 3 in the x-direction and 5 in the y-direction to get to point

A.
 The point A is a distance r from the origin. That is, if we moved a distance
r along a straight line at an angle from the x-axis then we would arrive at
point A. This means that instead of describing the point A as (3,5) we could
equivalently have used A = ∠ .
Using Pythagoras’ Theorem and trigonometry we can now write the follow
relationships:

cos

sin

tan

Let us look at an example involving negative numbers. Let the point A be defined
as 2∠ 150°, that is,

2 cos 150° √3
2 sin 150° 1

Key points –

 The angle is measured from the positive x-axis.

 If the angle is positive we are moving in an anti-clockwise direction from
the positive x-axis.
 If the angle is negative then we are moving in a clockwise direction from
the positive x-axis.
Points of caution –

 We need to be careful when using our trigonometry functions (sin, cos, tan)
as the arguments can be in radians or in degrees. To convert between
radians and degrees we can use the following:
180

180
 There are 4-quadrants in the x-y plane and the sign of the result of our
trigonometry functions will depend on which quadrant the angle places us
in, as shown below.

For example –

a) sin 120° 0.866 as 120° is in quadrant 2 the sine of the angle will be
positive.
b) cos 120° 0.5 as 120° is in quadrant 2 the cosine of the angle will be
negative.
  Be careful when working in quadrants 2 and 3 when using your
trigonometry functions. For example:

Here we have:
Φ 180°
2 cos 2 cos Φ
2 sin 2 sin Φ

The key to avoiding errors is to draw a diagram so that you can see if the x and y
coordinates should be positive or negative.
Complex numbers –
The general form of a complex number is

where and are real numbers (and can be positive or negative values). So what
does " " mean? The “number” is known as an imaginary number where by
definition:

√ 1

If we recall that any real number squared must be positive then allows us to
have the square root of a negative number.

For example –

a) The square root of 4 = 2

b) the square root of -4 = 2

Points to note –

 We use the underscore notation to represent a complex number.

 A complex number may also be expressed as (that is, we can use
instead of ).
 1 (as √ 1)

 1
 A complex number can be purely imaginary, for example 2 0 2, or can
have a real and an imaginary component, for example 3 2 or 3 2 or
3 2.
 If we multiply a real number by then we get an imaginary number, for
example 5 5 0 5.
The complex plane –
Just as we could plot a point in the x-y plane we can also plot a complex number
in the complex plane. The axes of the complex plane are defined as the real axis
and the imaginary axis.

For example we could have:

Imag

1+j1.5

1.5

-2
Real
1

-1.5

-2-j1.5
Important points to note –

 Multiplication by is equivalent to rotating by 90° in an anti-clockwise

direction.

Proof –
Let us start with any general complex number

and thus if we multiply we have

We can draw these two complex number as shown below.

Here we can see that

Φ 90°
⟹Φ 90°

and
Φ 180°

Substituting our equation for Φ we have:

90° 180°
⟹ 180° 90°
⟹ 90°

Which proves that multiplying by results in a rotation of 90° in an anticlockwise

direction = positive rotation of 90°.
Note that the simplest example of this is multiplying a real number by to give
which graphically is represented as:

Note that if I multiply by then I would have which is a further rotation of

90° (that is, . Similarly, if we again multiply by to give
this would result in a further rotation of 90° and so on.
Cartesian form –
The Cartesian form of a complex number is:

Here we call the real component of and the imaginary component of .

Polar form –
The polar form of the complex number is

where

tan

Note that given ∠ we can convert to Cartesian form using

and in Cartesian form we have which represents exactly the same point
on the complex plane.
Let us try some examples –

i) Given the complex number 3 4 find the magnitude and angle of .

Answer –

3 4 √25 5

Note that technically √25 5 but as we cannot physically have complex number
with a length which is <0 the only real solution is 5.
4
∠ tan 53.13°
3
ii) Find the real and imaginary components of the complex number 2∠30°

Answer –

2 cos 30° √3

2 sin 30° 1

That is, √3 1.

Multiplication, addition, subtraction and division of complex numbers

Addition –
To add complex numbers we simply add like terms together (that is, real
components add to real components and imaginary components add to imaginary
components).

In general we have,

and thus

Note that we cannot perform this operation if the complex number is in polar form
as we do not have the real and imaginary components separated from each other.
This means that if we are given a complex number in polar form then we will need
to convert it to Cartesian form to perform addition.
Graphically addition looks like this:

Note that a complex number can have negative real or imaginary components,
this in no way changes the method used when adding or subtracting these
numbers.

Subtraction –
Subtraction of complex numbers is performed in exactly the same way as we
perform addition with the only difference being that we subtract like terms. That
is, if

then
Multiplication –
We can multiply two complex numbers using our general Cartesian form as follows

and thus

In polar form this gives

⟹ 2 2

and for the angle of the resultant we have:

∠ tan

But we know that

and using
tan tan
tan
1 ∓ tan tan
we have

∠ ∠
1

⟹∠ ∠ ∠

Thus we have shown that we can multiply two complex numbers by converting
them to polar form and using:
∠ ∠ ∠

That is, all we need to do is multiply the magnitudes and add the angles. This is a
much simpler and faster way than trying to perform the calculation using Cartesian
coordinates.

Key points to note –

 If I multiply a complex number by -1 then this reverses the direction of the

complex number, that is, the angle has 180° added to it. This can be readily
shown by doing the multiplication as follows,
∠ ° 1∠180° 1 ∠ 180 ° ∠ 180 °

All we had to realise was that 1 1∠180° (which we could readily see if we
were to draw -1 on the complex plane)

We can also multiply by -1 in Cartesian form by changing the sign of the

real and imaginary components of the complex number. That is
1 0

 We have seen that if I multiply a number (complex or real) by then this

produces a positive (that is, in an anti-clockwise direction) rotation of 90°.
We can now show this using our procedure for multiplication, that is, if I
have a complex number given by ∠ ° and I multiply it by then I get

1∠90° ∠ ° 1 ∠ 90° ° ∠ 90 °

Note that 1∠90° which can be seen by drawing 0 1 on the complex

plane

 If I multiply any number (real or complex) by – then I produce a rotation

of -90°. This comes from the fact that 1∠ 90°
Division –
It can be shown that we get a similar result for the division of complex numbers
as we did for multiplication, that is,
∠
∠ ∠ ∠
∠

and thus to perform division of complex numbers all we need to do is to convert

to polar form and divide the magnitudes and subtract the angles.

Proof –
Consider two complex numbers:

If we divide by then we have:

The magnitude of the resultant complex number is given by

2 2
⟹

But we know that

and thus

Using our expression for in Cartesian form we can also see that

tan ∠

and using
tan tan
tan
1 ∓ tan tan

we have

∠ ∠
1

⟹ tan ∠ ∠ ∠

That is,

∠ ∠ ∠

Thus we have shown that we can divide two complex numbers by converting them
to polar form and using:
∠
∠
∠

That is, all we need to do is divide the magnitudes and subtract the angles. This
is a much simpler and faster way than trying to perform the calculation using
Cartesian coordinates.
Complex conjugate –
Given the complex number then the complex conjugate of this number
is ∗ .

Points to note –

 By taking the conjugate of a complex number we are simply changing the

sign of the angle, that is, if ∠ then ∗ ∠
∗
 (as √ )
∗
∗
 If a complex number is given by then ∗

Reciprocal –
The reciprocal of a complex number can be found using our division procedure.
That is, if we have a complex number ∠ ° then the reciprocal of is
given by:
1 1∠0° 1
∠ °
∠ °

Note that the reciprocal of is given by

1∠0°
1∠ 90° j
1∠90°
as we know that 1∠90°. An alternate way to prove the reciprocal of is to use
.
Waveforms –
Let us start by defining some basic concepts -

Time dependent waveforms – are the most common types of waveform in

engineering and can be described as an instantaneous value at a particular time.

Points to note –

 We often start at time 0 as we do not know what happened before this

time or the signal may only have started then. This may not be an
“absolute” time as it may just be when we started measuring.

An example of a non-time dependent waveform would be a force which changes

with distance or displacement.
A periodic waveform – is a waveform which repeats itself over some fixed period
of time.

Vp sin(ωt)
400

300

200

100

0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035

-100

-200

-300

T
-400

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035
The period of a waveform –
Provided a waveform is periodic then it will have a period, which is the time
taken to complete one cycle of the waveform. The period of a waveform is often
denoted using the letter and using standard international units for time, the
period is measured in seconds.

The frequency of a waveform –

Provided a waveform is periodic then it has a frequency which is given by the
number of cycles completed in one second. The unit for frequency is Hertz (Hz).
The frequency and the period of a periodic waveform are related through
1

and thus
1

Peak value –
The peak value of a waveform is the maximum value reached. If the waveform is
not symmetrical about the time axis then there will be a positive peak value and
a negative peak value.

Peak to peak value –

This is the distance between the positive peak value and the negative peak value.

Instantaneous value –
This is the value of the waveform at an instant in time.
Sinusoidal waveforms -
One of the most common and versatile functions used in electrical engineering is
the sinusoidal waveform. The general form of a time dependent sinusoidal
waveform is
sin

where = the peak value of the waveform, 2 , and the phase angle of
the waveform. It is extremely important that we fully understand this expression
so let us look at each of its components in more detail.

The sine function –

This is a fundamental trigonometric function which can be plotted as shown below.

sin(θ)
1.5

0.5

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

-0.5

-1

-1.5

Key points to note –

 A sine wave has a peak value of 1.

 The argument of a sine wave is an angle (we will use either radians or
degrees).
 One cycle of a sine wave occurs in 2 radians = 360°.

The peak magnitude ( ) –

We have seen that the peak value of a sine wave is 1 and thus to get a larger
value we need to multiply by a constant. This constant will become the peak value
of the sine wave. For example sin will have a peak value of .

Note that given a peak value of the peak-to-peak value for the waveform will
be 2 (that is the distance from to ).
The frequency term 2 –
When we plotted our sine wave we used the form sin ) where = angle in radians
or degrees. When we write the expression sin the term is the angle,
however as we can see this angle changes with time. We should be aware that
when we use sin that 2 = angle in radians (this is where the 2 comes
from) as a function of time and frequency. If we recall that the period of the
waveform is given by then we can see that 2 which means that
at we have 2 = one complete cycle of the sine wave. Using we
can see that the higher the frequency the smaller the period.

sin(ωt) and sin(2ωt)
1.5

0.5

Sin(wt)
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 Sin(2wt)

-0.5

-1

-1.5
The phase angle term –
We can shift a time dependent sine wave to the left or right in time by adding or
subtracting a fixed angle to the argument. This is known as a phase shift and is
demonstrated in the diagram below.

Phase shift
400

300

200

100

sin(ωt)
0 sin(ωt-π/4)
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035
sin(ωt+π/4)

-100

-200

-300

-400

Note that when we add our phase angle we shift in time to the left (not right) as
the waveform reaches its value earlier in time which is to the left on the time axis.

sin(ωt) and cos(ωt)
400

300

200

100

sin(ωt)
cos(ωt)
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 sin(ωt+π/2)
sin(ωt-π/2)

-100

-200

-300

-400
Important points to note –

 We can see that applying a phase shift of +90° to our sine wave is
equivalent to writing sin 90° cos

The sin 90° cos equation can also be proven using the
trigonometry identity
sin sin cos sin
⟹ sin 90° sin cos 90° cos sin 90°
⟹ sin 90° cos

as cos 90° 0 and sin 90° 1.

 If we recall that multiplying by produced a rotation of 90° then we can

also say that sin 90° cos .
 If we recall that multiplying by produced a rotation of -90° then we can
also say that cos 90° sin .

D.C. offset –
We have seen that a D.C. value at steady state is constant in time and that a
sinusoidal value oscillates symmetrically about the time axis in time. So what
would happen if we added a D.C. voltage to a sinusoidal voltage? The answer is
we would get:
sin . .

All this means is that we are still oscillating in time at the same frequency and
with the same phase shift, but now we simply add . . to every instantaneous
value. For example, if we have:
10 sin 62.832 5

10 sin(ωt) + 5
20

15

10

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25

-5

-10
Points to note –

 The waveform now oscillates symmetrically about . .

 The frequency has not changed.
 The peak amplitude is now . . and . . .
 The peak-to-peak value is unchanged.

Example –
We are told that we have a voltage defined by:

100 sin 314.159

6
Find:

a) The peak value of the voltage.

b) The frequency of the voltage waveform.
c) The period of the voltage waveform.
d) The phase angle of the voltage.
e) The instantaneous magnitude of the voltage at time = 5 ms.
f) If a D.C. offset of 100 V was added to the voltage waveform, what would
be the instantaneous magnitude of the voltage at time = 5 ms?

Answer –

a) the peak of the waveform will be 100 .

b) the frequency of the waveform comes from 2 314.159 and thus
.
50 .
c) the period of the waveform can be found from the frequency using
20 (that is, it takes 20 ms to complete one cycle).
d) the phase angle of the voltage waveform is radians (=30°).
e) the magnitude of the voltage at 5 is found by substituting in 5
into the voltage equation, that is,

5 100 sin 314.159 5 10 86.60

6
Note – make sure you use radians when performing this calculation.

f) For a D.C. offset of 100 V we have

100 sin 314.159 100
6
and thus at 5 we have
5 100 sin 314.159 5 10 100 186.60
6
Tips –

 Make sure your calculator is set to correct unit for the argument of the
trigonometric function (that is, radians or degrees). Some software, such
as Microsoft excel have a default setting of radians and thus if you use
degrees you will get an incorrect answer.
 We can convert between radians and degrees using the following,
180

180
These conversions are based on the fact that 180 .

 There is no difference between using radians or degrees provided we

recognise which unit we are using and we consistently use that unit. Having
said this, radians is often taken as the standard and as stated previously,
when we use 2 we have chosen radians which is evident by the fact
that the frequency is multiplied by 2 .