The complex plane

In the complex plane, we can represent every complex number by a point. The elements
of the complex plane is very similar to Cartesian plane. The vertical axis, often labeled as
ℑ, represents the imaginary part of the complex number and the horizontal axis, often
labeled as ℜ, represents the real part. The intersection of these axes is also called the
origin.

Relationship between z , ź and – z

The real part of z and ź are the same, but their imaginary part are negatives of each other.
That’s why in the complex plane, they are mirror image of each other with respect to the
real axis. On the other hand, the real and imaginary parts of z and −z are negatives of
each other, that’s why −z is the 180 degrees rotation of z about the origin.
Interesting result: The quadrilateral formed by connecting the origin,
Distance between the origin and any complex number
Let z=a+ bi. Then the distance between z and the origin can be obtain by the distance
formula: ( a−0 )2 + ( b−0 )2 . Further simplification, we get √ a2 +b 2 . This quantity, denoted
√
by |z|, is called the magnitude of the complex number z .

Distance between two complex numbers in the complex plane

Motivate by showing that |w−z| and the distance between w and z are equal by a specific
example. The proof is simple. Let w=a+ bi and z=c +di . Then we have
w−z=( a−c ) + ( b−d ) i. By using the distance formula, we can see that
2 2
|w−z|=√ ( a−c ) + ( b−d ) which is the distance between w and z .
The midpoint formula for the complex plane
The midpoint formula for the Cartesian plane is the same as the midpoint formula in the
complex plane
Theorems about conjugates

 ´ź=z
 ź=z iff z is real
 ź=−z iff z is imaginary
 z ±´ w=ź ± ẃ
 zw=ź
´ ẃ
´z ź

( )w ẃ
=

 The sum of a complex number and its conjugate is a real number

Two other notable theorems
2
 z ź=|z|
 |zw|=|z||w|
The ℜ ( z ) and ℑ(z) function

The ℜ( z) function simply accepts complex number as input and produces the real part of
this complex number as the output. The ℑ(z) function is the same, only that it produces
the imaginary part as the output.
Theorems about Re and Im
z+ ź
ℜ ( z )=
2
z−ź
ℑ ( z )=
2i
Graphing in the complex plane
z+ ź
 The graph of =c is a vertical line. Specifically, it is the line x=c
2
z−ź
 The graph of =c is a horizontal line. Specifically, it is the line y=c
2i
 The graph of ( a−bi ) z + ( a+ bi ) ź=2 c is a line. Specifically, it is the line ax +by=c
 The graph of |z−(a+ bi)|=c is a circle centered at a+ bi with radius c
 The graph of |z−( a+bi )|=|z −( c+ di )| is a line. It is the perpendicular bisector of the line
segment connecting a+ bi and c +di in the complex plane. Specifically, it is the line
a2 +b 2−( c 2 +d 2 )
( a−c ) x + ( b−d ) y=
2
Special problems

 Factoring i out
Problems like this usually requires us to evaluate large powers of complex numbers.
For example, simplify ( i+1 )3200−( i−1 )3200 . Of course, we will not evaluate this. Our first
3200
1
step is to factor out i from the second term. Doing this we get, ( i+1 )
3200
( ( ))
− i 1−
i
.

Simplifying we get, ( i+1 )3200−( i 3200 ) ( 1+i )3200. Now we see that the expression simplifies
to 0 .