The complex plane provides a way to express complex numbers graphically. Any complex number can be expressed as a point on the complex plane. Before looking over the rest of this module, one should be very familiar with complex numbers. Please refer to the complex number module for an explanation or review of these numbers.
- Definition 1: Complex Plane
- A two-dimensional graph where the horizontal axis maps the real part and the vertical axis maps the imaginary part of any complex number or function.
| Complex Plane |
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Rectangular Coordinates
Similar to the Cartesian plane, the complex plane allows one
to plot ordered pairs of the form
Polar Form
The complex plane can also be used to plot complex numbers
that are in polar form. Rather than using
As a reminder, the following equations show the conversion between polar and rectangle coordinates:
