A FIRST COURSE

IN LINEAR ALGEBRA
An Open Text by Ken Kuttler

Complex Numbers - Polar Form

Lecture Notes by Karen Seyffarth∗
Adapted by
LYRYX SERVICE COURSE SOLUTION

∗
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work
non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations
under the identical terms.

Complex Numbers - Polar Form Page 1/11

 Complex Numbers in Polar Form
√
Suppose z = a + bi, and let r = |z| = a2 + b 2 . Then r is the distance
from z to the origin. Denote by θ the angle that the line through 0 and z
makes with the positive x-axis (measured clockwise).

y
z = a + bi

r
b
θ
0 a x

Then θ is an angle defined by cos θ = ar and sin θ = br , so

z = r cos θ + r sin θi = r (cos θ + i sin θ).
θ is called an argument of z, and is denoted arg z.
Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 2/11
 Definition (Polar Form of a Complex Number)
Let z be a complex number with |z| = r and arg z = θ. Then
z = re iθ = r (cos θ + i sin θ)
is called a a polar form of z. Since arg z is not unique, we do not write the polar
form of z.

Definition
Let z be a complex number with |z| = r . The principal argument of z is the
unique angle θ = arg z (measured in radians) such that
−π < θ ≤ π.

Example
Let z = 1. To convert
√ z to polar form, we need to find r and θ so that 1 = re iθ .
2
Now r = |z| = 1 = 1, and θ = 0 is an argument for z = 1. However, we may
also write
1 = e 2πi , 1 = e −2πi , e 4πi , e 6πi , . . .
Since sine and cosine have periodicity 2π, we may add (or subtract) multiples of
2π to any argument.
Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 3/11
 Example (Converting to Polar Form)
√
Let z =√−2 + 2 3i. To convert z to polar form, we need to find r and θ so that
−2 + 2 3i = re iθ . Since r = |z|,
q √ p √
r = (−2)2 + (2 3)2 = 4 + 4(3) = 16 = 4.
√
There are two approaches to finding an argument, θ. One is to graph −2 + 2 3
in the complex plane.
√ y
(−2, 2 3)

√
2 3 4 θ

2 0 x

The
√ triangle sitting on the negative half of the real axis has sides of length 2,
2 3, and 4; you should recognize this as a right triangle whose other two angles
measure π3 and π6 . From this, we see that θ = 2π3 is an argument of z.
Therefore, z can be written in polar form as

z = 4e i(2π/3) .

Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 4/11

 Example (Converting to Polar Form – continued)
√
The other approach to finding an argument, θ, for z = −2 + 2 3i is as follows.
We’ve already calculated |z| = r = 4. By definition, θ is an angle satisfying
√ √
−2 1 2 3 3
cos θ = = − and sin θ = = .
4 2 4 2
√
By graphing the point (− 12 , 3
2 ), we again determine that θ = 2π
3 , and thus z can
be written in polar form as
z = 4e i(2π/3) .

Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 5/11

 Exercises
Convert each of the following complex numbers to polar form.
1 3i = 3e (π/2)i .
√ √
2 −1 − i = 2e −(3π/4)i = 2e (5π/4)i .
√
3 3 − i = 2e −(π/6)i .
√ √
4 3 + 3i =2 3e (π/3)i .

Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 6/11

 Converting from Polar Form to Cartesian form
Problem
Let z = 2e 2πi/3 . Write z in the form z = a + bi (this is called Cartesian
form or Standard form).

Solution
First, remember that e iθ = cos θ + i sin θ, and thus

e 2πi/3 = cos(2π/3) + i sin(2π/3)

√
1 3
= − +i .
2 2
Therefore
√ !
2πi/3 1 3
z = 2e = 2 − +i
2 3
√
= −1 + 3i.
Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 7/11
 Exercises
Express each of the following complex numbers in Cartesian form.
1 3e −πi = −3
√ √
2 2e 3πi/4 = − 2 + i 2
√ √
3 2 3e −2πi/6 = 3 − 3i

Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 8/11

 Multiplication - again!
Problems involving multiplication of complex numbers can often be solved more
easily by using polar forms of the complex numbers.

Theorem
If z1 = r1 e iθ1 and z2 = r2 e iθ2 are complex numbers, then

z1 z2 = r1 r2 e i(θ1 +θ2 )

Theorem (De Moivre’s Theorem)

If θ is any angle and n is a positive integer,

n
e iθ = e inθ .

As an immediate consequence of De Moivre’s Theorem, we have that for any real

number r > 0 and any positive integer n,

(re iθ )n = r n e inθ .
Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 9/11
 Problem
√
Express (1 − i)6 ( 3 + i)3 in the form a + bi.

Solution
√ √
Let z = 1 − i =
compute z 6 w 3 .
2e −πi/4 and w = 3 + i = 2e πi/6 . We want to
√
z 6 w 3 = ( 2e −πi/4 )6 (2e πi/6 )3
= (23 e −6πi/4 )(23 e 3πi/6 )
= (8e −3πi/2 )(8e πi/2 )
= 64e −πi
= 64e πi
= 64(cos π + i sin π)
= −64.

Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 10/11

 Problem
 √ 17
1 3
Express 2 − 2 i in the form a + bi.

Solution
√
Let z = 1
2 − 3
2 i = e −πi/3 . Then
 17
z 17 = e −πi/3
= e −17πi/3
= e πi/3
π π
= cos + i sin
3√ 3
1 3
= + i.
2 2

Complex Numbers - Polar Form Polar Form Page 11/11