Welcome to the trigonometry in the complex plane. This book introduces college level trigonometry using the geometry of the circle in the complex plane. Building upon the concepts in the previous book, this book discusses the geometric properties of complex arithmetic, defines the trigonometric functions and the exponential function, then explores Euler’s formula and Fourier Transformations. This book is the last of the three-part trigonometry series:
The set of complex numbers, sometimes called by the unfortunate name of “imaginary numbers” are a tricky bit of math that can appear arcane and convoluted from the onset and then, after close study, suprisingly simple. The goal of this book is to try and get every reader to the latter and not get lost in the sauce as they say. All potatoes here in Wumbo land.
First the pertinent points are recapped from the radian angle system and the trigonometric functions using the geometry of the circle. Here we also define the trigonometric functions as infinite series using calculus as we will be using these definitions later on.
Then the definition of complex numbers and the geometry of complex number arithmetic is introduced. After that, the complex unit circle and trigonometric functions are discussed in relation to complex number arithmetic. This is where the usefulness of the complex number system begins to shine.
Lastly, we take a detour to define the exponential function, which is often written in shorthand as Euler’s number. Extending the function to complex numbers, a surprising connection to trigonometry appears.
The radian angle system defines rotation as unitless measure based on the geometry of the circle. Up until this point in this series the claim has been made that the radian angle system is preferred over the degree angle system. Now we will finally see the benefit of using this system as we look again at the trigonometric functions and how to define them.
Given an angle in radians the sine function returns the ratio of over the radius . Geometrically, this ratio is equal to the component of the corresponding point on the unit circle. The plot of the sine function is shown below for angles from to (tau) radians.
The sine function can be defined using a Taylor Series.
Given an angle in radians the cosine function returns the ratio of the adjacent side over its hypotenuse. The plot of the cosine function is shown below for the domain to (tau) radians, where represents a full rotation. The numeric values for radians are shown on the top edge of the plot’s grid.
In the same fashion a Taylor Series expansion can be used to define the cosine.
Here we see a relationship between the two functions that wouldn’t be true if we had instead used the degree angle system. If we take the derivative of sine, as shown below, we are left with the power series definition of cosine. In other words, we are able to explicitly show that the derivative of sine is equal to cosine.
Applying the same process we can show that the derivative of cosine is equal to negative sine.
The complex number system extends the ordinary number system from a linear interpretation, the number line, to a two dimensional interpretation known as the complex plane.
The arithmetic properties of the complex number system naturally represent 2D geometry. The addition of two complex numbers is like adding two vectors together. The multiplication of two complex numbers has a scale and rotation transformation property.
A complex number is denoted in the form shown below, where and are real numbers and the variable i represents the square root of negative one.
A complex number is visualized as a point in 2D space, usually drawn as an arrow, with a horizontal component equal to the real part of the number and the vertical component equal to the complex part of the number. For example, the visualization of the number 3+2i is illustrated below.
The addition of two complex numbers can be visualized as two vectors in the complex plane placed tail to tail. The figure below illustrates the addition of the complex numbers 2+3i and 4-1i, resulting in the number 6+2i.
The multiplication of a complex number is a bit more tricky to visualize, but it is extremely useful to have a mental model of what multiplying two complex numbers looks like.
Multiplying any complex number by results in . Visually, this correspond with stretching and rotating the number so that it lies on top of the complex number in the complex plane. Conceptually, you can imagine stretching and rotating all of the horizontal and vertical axis lines in the first plane.
The second property of complex number mutliplication is multiplying a number by is equivalent to rotating by . For example, the complex number multiplied by is equal to the rotation shown below:
This is where the usefulness of complex numbers starts to appear; the multiplication of two complex numbers can be geometrically related to rotation. Let’s verify the result we saw above using algebra and look at another example.
The last property of multiplication puts the first two together and allows us to visualize what is happening when any two complex numbers are multiplied together. For example, to multiply the complex numbers and together, first we can visualize the stretch and rotation of the coordinate system from the first number , then we can draw the complex number arrow using this new stretched grid to find the product.
We can verify this result using algebra.
A point on the unit circle in the complex plane can be elegantly expressed in terms of the sine and cosine of the point’s angle. This is illustrated in the figure below.
Complex Numbers Trigonometry
Euler’s formula, sometimes referred to as “our gem” is a famous mathematical expression
Fourier transformation is a method to extract
This book introduces the subject of trigonometry using the degree angle system and the geometry of the right-triangle. It contains basic trigonometry terminology, functions and identities.
This web-book covers the fundamentals of trigonometry using the radian angle system and the geometry of the circle. The definitions of the trigonometric functions are extended using the geometry of the circle. The applications of trigonometry are also discussed.
This web-book is a deep dive into trigonometry in the complex plane. Building upon the concepts in the previous book, the fundementals of trigonometry, this book explores the definition of trigonometric functions, Euler's formula and Fourier transformations.
Radians are a unit that measure angle using the radius of a circle. One radian is equal to the amount of rotation required to travel the length of one radius along the circumference of the circle.
The sine function returns the sine of a number provided in radians. In geometric terms, the function returns the vertical component of the point formed by the angle on the unit circle.
A taylor series is a tool in mathematics to define a function in terms of an infinite power series.
The cosine function returns the cosine of an angle provided in radians. In geometric terms, the function returns the ratio of the right-triangle's adjacent side over its hypotenuse.
A complex number is an extension of the real number line where in addition to the "real" part of the number there is a complex part of the number. The properties of complex numbers are useful in applied physics as they elegantly describe rotation.