The document discusses De Moivre's theorem and how it can be used to find nth roots of complex numbers. It provides examples of using De Moivre's theorem to find cube roots, fourth roots, and sixth roots of various complex numbers. The key steps are to write the complex number in polar form, then the nth roots are found by taking the nth root of the modulus and dividing the argument by n. Roots of unity, which are complex numbers where zn = 1, are also discussed and examples are provided of finding the cube and fourth roots of unity.
The document discusses De Moivre's theorem and how it can be used to find nth roots of complex numbers. It provides examples of using De Moivre's theorem to find cube roots, fourth roots, and sixth roots of various complex numbers. The key steps are to write the complex number in polar form, then the nth roots are found by taking the nth root of the modulus and dividing the argument by n. Roots of unity, which are complex numbers where zn = 1, are also discussed and examples are provided of finding the cube and fourth roots of unity.
The document discusses De Moivre's theorem and how it can be used to find nth roots of complex numbers. It provides examples of using De Moivre's theorem to find cube roots, fourth roots, and sixth roots of various complex numbers. The key steps are to write the complex number in polar form, then the nth roots are found by taking the nth root of the modulus and dividing the argument by n. Roots of unity, which are complex numbers where zn = 1, are also discussed and examples are provided of finding the cube and fourth roots of unity.
The document discusses De Moivre's theorem and how it can be used to find nth roots of complex numbers. It provides examples of using De Moivre's theorem to find cube roots, fourth roots, and sixth roots of various complex numbers. The key steps are to write the complex number in polar form, then the nth roots are found by taking the nth root of the modulus and dividing the argument by n. Roots of unity, which are complex numbers where zn = 1, are also discussed and examples are provided of finding the cube and fourth roots of unity.
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De Moivre's theorem and nth roots
De Moivre's theorem is not only true for the integers but can be extended to fractions. De Moivre's theorem for fractional powers
= Example 1 Calculate By De Moivre's theorem for fractional powers
Example 2 Calculate By De Moivre's theorem = Example 3 Using De Moivre's theorem calculate De Moivre's theorem gives = 2 3 + 2i =
The previous worked example showed that is a cube root of That is, This cube root is obtained by dividing the argument of the original number by 3 However, the cube roots of are complex numbers z which satisfy z3 = 1 and so by the Fundamental theorem of algebra, since this equation is of degree 3, there should be 3 roots. That is, in general, a complex number should have 3 cube roots. Given a complex number these 3 cube roots can always be found
Strategy for finding the cube roots of a complex number Write the complex number in polar form z = r (cos + i sin ) Write z in two more equivalent alternative ways by adding 2 to the argument. z = r {cos ( + 2 ) + i sin ( + 2 )} z = r {cos ( + 4 ) + i sin ( + 4 )} Write down the cube roots of z by taking the cube root of r and dividing each of the arguments by 3
NB: the previous strategy gives the three cube roots as
If z = r (cos + i sin ) is written in any further alternative ways such as z = r {cos ( + 6 ) + i sin ( + 6 )}, this gives a cube root of
which is the same as one of the previously mentioned roots. It is impossible to find any more. Example 4 Find the cube roots of 1 + i First express 1 + i in polar form
and arg (1 + i) = Hence1 + i can be expressed as But 1 + i can also be expressed as
Hence, taking the cube root of the modulus and dividing the argument by 3, the cube roots of 1 + i are
In this way the nth roots of any complex number can be found. Example 5 Find the cube roots of z = 64(cos 30 + i sin 30) Answer: This is in polar form. Use 2 = 360 and 4 = 720 z = 64(cos 30 + i sin 30) z can also be written as z = 64{cos (30 + 360) + i sin (30 + 360)} and z = 64{cos (30 + 720) + i sin (30 + 720)} , the cube roots of z are Since 4(cos 10 + i sin 10), 4(cos 130 + i sin 130), 4(cos 250 + i sin 250)
Example 6 Find the fourth roots of 81i, that is of z= z= z= z= =3 The fourth roots of are
Example 7 Find the sixth roots of The modulus of
3+i
3 + i is 2 and the argument is , , and , ,
The sixth roots are
It is easy and important to find the nth roots of 1 i.e. complex numbers such that zn = 1 Such numbers are often referred to as the nth roots of unity. Roots of unity The nth roots of unity are those numbers that satisfy the equation zn = 1
Since 1 = cos 2 + i sin 2 , it follows that is an nth root of unity. But 1 can be written using different arguments as follows:
Hence dividing the argument in each case by n gives the following nth roots of unity.
Note that arguments increase by
each time. The roots of unity are regularly spaced in an Argand diagram.
Example 8 Find the cube roots of unity and plot them on an Argand diagram. Answer: Since 1 can be written in polar form as 1 = cos 2 + i sin 2 1 = cos 4 + i sin 4 1 = cos 6 + i sin 6 the cube roots of unity are z= z= = =
=1 z= On the Argand diagram
Example 9 Find the fourth roots of unity and plot them on an Argand diagram. The solutions are z = cos 0 + i sin 0 , i.e. z = 1, -1, i and -i On an Argand diagram this gives , cos + i sin and
Example 10 Find the solutions of the equation z6 - 1 = 0. Plot the answers on an Argand diagram. The solutions are cos 0 + i sin 0, and The Argand diagram gives , , cos + i sin ,
