LINEAR ALGEBRA WITH APPLICATIONS

MATH 211

Complex Numbers
Roots of Complex Numbers

Lecture Notes by Karen Seyffarth*

Adapted by Mayada Shahada

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Roots of Complex Numbers
Definition
Let z and q be complex numbers, and let n be a positive integer.
Then z is called an nth root of q if z n = q.

De Moivre’s Theorem and its implication

n
If q is any angle and n is a positive integer, e iq = e inq . This implies
that for any real number r > 0 and any positive integer n,

(re iq )n = r n e inq .

This leads to the following result.

Corollary
Let q be a nonzero complex number and n a positive integer. Then z n = q
has exactly n complex solutions, i.e., q has exactly n complex nth roots.

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 Example
For any positive real number a, z 2 = a has two complex (in this case, real)
p p
solution, z = a and z = a. This is equivalent to the statement that a
has two complex (in this case, real) square roots.
One particular example: 25 has two square roots, 5 and 5, and these
are the two solutions to z 2 = 25.
A more interesting example is that 1 has no real square roots, but it
has two (complex) square roots, i and i. These are the two
(complex) solutions to z 2 = 1.

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 Finding Roots of a Complex Number
Let w be a complex number. We wish to find the nth roots of w , that is all
z such that z n = w .
There are n distinct nth roots and they can be found as follows:
1. Express w in polar form w = re i(q +2`p) .
2. Then:
z = r 1/n e i(q +2`p)/n for ` = 0, 1, 2, · · · , n 1.

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 Cube Roots

Example
To find the (three) cube roots of i, we solve the equation z 3 = i.

i = 0 + 1i =) a = 0 b = 1
,

~ = veb v V = =
= 1

Principle O => cost =

= = 0 and Sinc =
F = = /

=> O
= we need t more
equivalent
arguments to find all
=>
E +2 E + 2(2iT)
,
,
3 cube roots

=>
Is
i = ei
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 z = I has the solutions

(i)
Bi
z = Te = 2

ze = C
i

z=
Tei) =
2

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 Exercise 1
p
Find all complex numbers z such that z 4 = 2( 3i 1), and express each in
the form a + bi.

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Roots of Unity

Definition
A complex number z is a root of unity if there exists a positive integer n so that
z n = 1.

Roots of Unity
For any integer n 1, the (complex) solutions to z n = 1 are

z = e 2p`i/n for ` = 0, 1, 2, . . . , n 1.

Furthermore, the nth roots of unity correspond to n equally spaced points on the
unit circle, one of them being (1, 0).

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 Example
Find the sixth roots of unity, i.e., all solutions to z 6 = 1.

1 = 1 + 02 => a =
1 and b = 0

v = b = Vo = V = 1

Principle O = cosO =F = = 1 and sinc =

-= = 0

=>
Principle O = 0
>
-
we need 5 more

equivalent arguments
=> O 2T
, , 4iT, GTT, ST ,
10 T

2π[ T Giti SITI 10

1 = j = e = e = = e = e

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 E I has the
following 6 solutions
=
:

z
,
=
PT et(0i) on
=
= 1

=T (i) -
Bi
2

Z VT et(ynti)
=
i
= 2

(biti)
z = Te 2
=
iti

Ej =
VTet(sti) i =

t
Z =
VTe (10ITi) =
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 The 6th roots of unity
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