Analysis of a

Complex Kind
Analysis of a Complex Kind
Week 1

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

z = x + iy

About this Course

s
s
e
n
d
e
t
c
e
n
n
o
c
Riemann
e
s
s
a
r
t
s
r
e
i
e
W
Cauchy
t
e
s
n
e
lim i op

Historical explorations

About this Course

Complex dynamics: Mandelbrot set, Julia sets.

About this Course

Complex functions, continuity, complex
differentiation.

About this Course

Conformal mappings, Mbius transformations and
the Riemann mapping theorem.

About this Course

Complex integration, Cauchy theory and
I
consequences.

1
f (a) =
2i

f (z)
dz
z a

Fundamental Theorem of Algebra:

an z + an
n

= an (z

1z

z1 )(z

n 1

+ + a1 z + a0

z2 ) (z

zn )

About this Course

Power series representation of analytic functions,
Riemann hypothesis.

1
X
1
(s) =
s
n
n=1

?
s
r
e
mb

u
n

e
prim

1
1
1
= s + s + s +
1
2
3

Brief History of Complex Numbers

Consider a quadratic equation
x2 = mx + b

Solutions are
m
x=

m2
+b
4

and represent intersection of y = x2 and y = mx + b .

Solutions: .
m
x=

m2
+b
4

m2
What if 4 + b < 0 ?
2
In particular, x = 1 has no real solutions.
p
1.
It is often argued that this led to i =
But... Historically, no interest in non-real solutions
2
since the graphs of y = x and y = mx + b simply
dont 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
3
q2
p3
q
q2
p3
q
x=
+
4
27 2
4
27 2
Try it out for x3 =

6x + 20 !

Bombellis 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
p
p
3
3
x= 2+
121 + 2
121
Bombelli had a wild thought...

Bombellis Idea
Bombelli discovered that
q
q
p
p
3
3
2+
121 = 2 +
1 and
2

121 = 2

These clearly add up to 4, the desired solution.

Check it out:
p
p
p
p
3
3
(2 +
1) = 2 +
121 and (2
1) = 2
121

(2 +

Check it out...
1)3 =

The Birth of Complex Analysis

Bombellis 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).
Well study this next.