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History of Complex Numbers

This document provides an overview of a lecture on the history of complex numbers. It discusses how non-real solutions to quadratic and cubic equations led mathematicians like Bombelli, Del Ferro, Tartaglia and Cardano to develop the foundations of complex number arithmetic. Bombelli's consideration of the cubic equation x^3 = 15x + 4 and realization that its solution required complex arithmetic is described as the "birth of complex analysis". The lecture will cover the geometry and algebra of complex numbers as well as their applications in complex dynamics, functions, integration and power series.

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Neelkanth Kundu
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131 views17 pages

History of Complex Numbers

This document provides an overview of a lecture on the history of complex numbers. It discusses how non-real solutions to quadratic and cubic equations led mathematicians like Bombelli, Del Ferro, Tartaglia and Cardano to develop the foundations of complex number arithmetic. Bombelli's consideration of the cubic equation x^3 = 15x + 4 and realization that its solution required complex arithmetic is described as the "birth of complex analysis". The lecture will cover the geometry and algebra of complex numbers as well as their applications in complex dynamics, functions, integration and power series.

Uploaded by

Neelkanth Kundu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Analysis  

of  a  
Analysis of a Complex Kind
Week 1

Complex  Kind
Lecture 1: History of Complex Numbers

Petra Bonfert-Taylor

Lecture 1: History of Complex Numbers

Lecture 1: History of Complex Numbers Analysis of a Complex Kind P. Bonfert-Taylor 1 / 17


Welcome
About me:
•  Petra Bonfert-Taylor
•  Born, raised and educated in Germany (Berlin).
•  Ph.D. 1996, Technical University of Berlin.
•  Postdoc at University of Michigan.
•  Professor at Wesleyan University since 1999.
About  this  Course
•  Complex numbers, their geometry and algebra.
y

y z = x + iy

x x
About  this  Course
c te d n e s s
e
•  Historical explorations

c
Riemannonn e
W e ie rs t ra s s
Cauchy
lim i op e n s e t
About  this  Course
•  Complex dynamics: Mandelbrot set, Julia sets.
About  this  Course
•  Complex functions, continuity, complex
differentiation.
About  this  Course
•  Conformal mappings, Möbius transformations and
the Riemann mapping theorem.
About  this  Course
•  Complex integration, Cauchy theory and
consequences. I
1 f (z)
f (a) = dz
2⇡i z a
Fundamental  Theorem  of  Algebra:

an z + an
n
1z
n 1
+ · · · + a1 z + a0
= an (z z1 )(z z2 ) · · · (z zn )
About  this  Course
•  Power series representation of analytic functions,
Riemann hypothesis.
X1
1 mb e rs?
⇣(s) = s prim
e   n u

n=1
n
1 1 1
= s + s + s + ···
1 2 3
Brief  History  of  Complex  Numbers
•  Consider a quadratic equation

x2 = mx + b

•  Solutions are
r
m m2
x= ± +b
2 4
and represent intersection of y = x2 and y = mx + b .
r

Solutions:                                      .
m m2
x= ± +b
2 4

m2
•  What if 4 + b < 0 ?

•  In particular, x = 1 has no real solutions.


2
p
•  It is often argued that this led to i = 1.
•  But... Historically, no interest in non-real solutions
since the graphs of y = x and y = mx + b simply
2

don’t intersect in that case.


History
•  Cubic equations were the real reason. Consider
x3 = px + q
•  Represents intersection of y = x3 and y = px + q .

•  There always must be a solution.


Solution  to  Cubic
•  Del Ferro (1465-1526) and Tartaglia (1499-1577),
followed by Cardano (1501-1576), showed that
x3 = px + q
has a solution given by
sr sr
3 q2 p3 q 3 q2 p3 q
x= +
4 27 2 4 27 2

•  Try it out for x3 = 6x + 20 !


Bombelli’s  Problem
•  About 30 years after the discovery of this formula,
Bombelli (1526-1572) considered the equation
x3 = 15x + 4

•  Plugging p = 15 and q = 4 into the formula yields


q q
3 p 3 p
x= 2+ 121 + 2 121

•  Bombelli had a “wild thought”...


Bombelli’s  Idea
•  Bombelli discovered that
q q
3 p p 3 p p
2+ 121 = 2 + 1 and 2 121 = 2 1

•  These clearly add up to 4, the desired solution.


•  Check it out:
p p p p
(2 + 1) = 2 +
3
121 and (2 1) = 2
3
121
Check  it  out...
p
(2 + 1)3 =
The  Birth  of  Complex  Analysis
•  Bombelli’s discovery is considered the “Birth of
Complex Analysis”.
•  It showed that perfectly real problems require
complex arithmetic for their solution.
•  Note: Need to be able to manipulate complex
numbers according to the same rules we are used
to from real numbers (distributive law, etc).
•  We’ll study this next.

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