LECTURE No.

1
MODULE No. 2
REPRESENTATION OF COMPLEX NUMBERS

What are complex numbers?

A complex number z can be defined as an ordered pair 𝑥, 𝑦 , where x and y are real numbers.

𝑧 = 𝑥, 𝑦 ∈ 𝐶

where 𝑥, 𝑦 ∈ 𝑅

Example 1

𝑧1 = (1,2)

Example 2

𝑧2 = (2,1)

Remark

Note that 𝑧1 ≠ 𝑧2

Complex numbers can be interpreted as points in the complex plane.

The complex numbers are extension of real numbers. The set C of complex numbers includes all the
real numbers as a subset.

The real number x is displayed as points ( x, 0 ) on the real axis. So 3 is represented by ( 3, 0 ) and 5 is
denoted by ( 5, 0 ) etc.

The complex numbers of the form ( 0, y ) correspond to points on y-axis. ( 0, y ) are pure imaginary
numbers when 𝑦 ≠ 0, e.g. ( 0, 1 ) is pure imaginary.

Remark

The x-axis is called real axis and the y-axis is called imaginary axis.

For a complex number z = ( x, y ), the real numbers x, y are known as real and imaginary parts of z
respectively.

So we can write

𝑥 = 𝑅𝑒 ( 𝑧 ), 𝑦 = 𝐼𝑚𝑔( 𝑧 )

Equality of Complex Numbers

Two complex numbers and 𝑧1 and 𝑧2 are equal whenever they have the same real and the same
imaginary parts.

Let 𝑧1 = 𝑥1 , 𝑦1

𝑧2 = 𝑥2 , 𝑦2

then 𝑧1 = 𝑧2 if and only if 𝑥1 = 𝑥2 and 𝑦1 = 𝑦2

Thus the statement 𝑧1 = 𝑧2 means that 𝑧1 & 𝑧2 correspond to the same point in complex plane.