Precalculus : Polar Form of Complex Numbers

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for Precalculus

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Example Questions

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Example Question #1 :Express Complex Numbers In Rectangular Form

Convert the following to rectangular form:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Distribute the coefficient 2, and evaluate each term:

Example Question #1 :Express Complex Numbers In Rectangular Form

Convert the following to rectangular form:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Distribute the coefficient and simplify:

Example Question #3 :Express Complex Numbers In Rectangular Form

Represent the polar equation:

in rectangular form.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Using the general form of a polar equation:

we find that the value ofisand the value ofis.

The rectangular form of the equation appears as, and can be found by finding the trigonometric values of the cosine and sine equations.

distributing the 3, we obtain the final answer of:

Example Question #4 :Express Complex Numbers In Rectangular Form

Represent the polar equation:

in rectangular form.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Using the general form of a polar equation:

we find that the value ofand the value of. The rectangular form of the equation appears as, and can be found by finding the trigonometric values of the cosine and sine equations.

Distributing the 4, we obtain the final answer of:

Example Question #1 :Express Complex Numbers In Rectangular Form

Represent the polar equation:

in rectangular form.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Using the general form of a polar equation:

we find that the value ofand the value of. The rectangular form of the equation appears as, and can be found by finding the trigonometric values of the cosine and sine equations.

distributing the 5, we obtain the final answer of:

Example Question #1 :Express Complex Numbers In Rectangular Form

Convertin rectangular form

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To convert, just evaluate the trig ratios and then distribute the radius.

Example Question #1 :Express Complex Numbers In Rectangular Form

Convertto rectangular form

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To convert to rectangular form, just evaluate the trig functions and then distribute the radius:

Example Question #1 :Express Complex Numbers In Rectangular Form

Convertto rectangular form

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To convert, evaluate the trig ratios and then distribute the radius:

Example Question #1 :Express Complex Numbers In Polar Form

The following equation has complex roots:

Express these roots in polar form.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Every complex number can be written in the forma + bi

The polar form of a complex number takes the form r(cos+ isin)

Now r can be found by applying the Pythagorean Theorem on a and b, or:

r =

can be found using the formula:

=

So for this particular problem, the two roots of the quadratic equation

are:

Hence, a = 3/2 and b = 3√3 / 2

Therefore r ==3

and= tan^-1 (√3) = 60

And therefore x = r(cos+ isin) = 3 (cos 60 + isin 60)

Example Question #2 :Express Complex Numbers In Polar Form

Express the roots of the following equation in polar form.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

First, we must use the quadratic formula to calculate the roots in rectangular form.

Remembering that the complex roots of the equation take on the form a+bi,

we can extract the a and b values.

We can now calculate r and theta.

Using these two relations, we get

. However, we need to adjust this theta to reflect the real location of the vector, which is in the 2nd quadrant (a is negative, b is positive); a represents the x-axis in the real-imaginary plane, b represents the y-axis.

The angle theta now becomes 150.

.

You can now plug in r and theta into the standard polar form for a number:

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