Dividing complex numbers review (article) | Khan Academy (2024)

Review your complex number division skills.

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  • ZardinTheTreeAtlas

    5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to ZardinTheTreeAtlas's post “What do I do when I have ...”

    What do I do when I have a problem like this : 3 / 2+i
    The "3" is over the "2+i".

    I don't know what to do and nothing will explain.

    (12 votes)

    • Polina Vitić

      5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Polina Vitić's post “Here's a hint: you need t...”

      Dividing complex numbers review (article) | Khan Academy (4)

      Dividing complex numbers review (article) | Khan Academy (5)

      Here's a hint: you need to "rationalize" the denominator. When you see 2+i in the denominator, what you really have is 2 + √(-1)

      To rationalize the denominator, try this:

      3/(2+i) · (2-i)/(2-i)
      = 3/(2+√(-1)) · (2-i)/(2-√(-1))
      ...and so on.

      Try working this out, and please let me know if you have any more questions.

      Hope this helps!

      (29 votes)

  • Matthew Johnson

    4 years agoPosted 4 years ago. Direct link to Matthew Johnson's post “What would be a real worl...”

    What would be a real world application where imaginary numbers would be involved in practical applications? Fractal geometry is excluded!

    (8 votes)

  • Kyra

    7 years agoPosted 7 years ago. Direct link to Kyra's post “Hello, The equation from ...”

    Hello, The equation from a review question i did was: 6-6i/8+2i. The answer I got was: 60/68 -60i/68 BUT the professor's solution was: 9/17 -15i/17. How am I wrong? :(

    (3 votes)

    • Kim Seidel

      Multiply the numerator & denominator by the conjugate of 8+2i = 8-2i
      (6-6i)(8-2i) / (8+2i)(8-2i)
      Numerator: (6-6i)(8-2i) = 48 -12i -48i -12 = 36 - 60i
      -- looks like you got +12, rather than -12. Here the details: -6i(-2i) = 12i^2 = 12(-1) = -12
      Denominator: (8+2i)(8-2i) = 64 -16i +16i + 4 = 68
      Put the pieces back together: 36/68 - 60i/68
      Reduce the fractions by 4: 9/17 -15i/17
      Hope this helps

      (3 votes)

  • Tatiana

    2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to Tatiana's post “I'm very comfortable rati...”

    I'm very comfortable rationalizing the denominator, but am still confused as to the reason we do this. Is the reason simply because we're trying to simplify the quotient as much as possible and it's not "clean" to have complex terms in the denominator?

    (1 vote)

    • Kim Seidel

      2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to Kim Seidel's post “Rationalizing the denomin...”

      Rationalizing the denominator makes the denominator an integer. And, this makes it easier to do other math operations with the fraction. For example, if you need to add/subtract fractions, it is easier to find a common denominator working with integers than working with denominators that are irrational numbers.

      (7 votes)

  • Maximus

    a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Maximus's post “It seems to follow from t...”

    It seems to follow from the proof that the product of a complex number and it's conjugate is a natural number; is that correct?

    (3 votes)

    • Kim Seidel

      a year agoPosted a year ago. Direct link to Kim Seidel's post “Natural numbers are: 1, 2...”

      Natural numbers are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ...
      The product of a complex number and its conjugate would create a real number. The set of real numbers includes: natural numbers, whole numbers, integers, rational numbers and irrational numbers.

      (2 votes)

  • connerking2

    5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to connerking2's post “What if the equation has ...”

    What if the equation has more than 1i in the numerator?

    (2 votes)

    • Rae Riddle

      5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Rae Riddle's post “Then you need to simplify...”

      Then you need to simplify the numerator first, by combining like terms and simplifying any i exponents you might have.

      (2 votes)

  • HJKNAPP

    8 months agoPosted 8 months ago. Direct link to HJKNAPP's post “What do I do when I have ...”

    What do I do when I have a problem like (-5+1/2i). I can't multiply by the conjugate of the denominator without the denominator becoming 0. I nee help. Can Sal please post a video on this.

    (2 votes)

    • Kim Seidel

      8 months agoPosted 8 months ago. Direct link to Kim Seidel's post “How do you get 0? I'm as...”

      How do you get 0? I'm assuming your denominator is (-5+1/2i). It's not clear from what you have written as you have no fraction to show the numerator vs denominator.

      Anyway... The conjugate for (-5+1/2i) would be (-5-1/2i)
      Your denominator becomes (-5)^2-(1/2i)^2
      Simplify to get: 25-0.25i^2 = 25-0.25(-1) = 25+0.25 = 25.25
      There is no 0.

      Hope this helps.

      (1 vote)

  • Grace Wyatt

    5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Grace Wyatt's post “what if its just 12/5i? I...”

    what if its just 12/5i? I'm not sure what to do.

    (2 votes)

    • Kim Seidel

      5 years agoPosted 5 years ago. Direct link to Kim Seidel's post “I believe you need to mul...”

      I believe you need to multiply by (-i)/(-i). This will eliminate the "i" in the denominator.
      Hope this helps.

      (1 vote)

  • Maryam shoukat

    3 years agoPosted 3 years ago. Direct link to Maryam shoukat's post “can you tell me the more ...”

    can you tell me the more power of i till 90power

    (1 vote)

  • poetrade314

    2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to poetrade314's post “Hello everyone, Khan acad...”

    Hello everyone, Khan academy is great for learning, I appreciate!

    I have a question:
    determine the number z if u = 4 - 3i

    a) z/u = 0,4+0,8i
    please and thank U....

    I did so > z / 4-3i = 0,4+0,8i

    z = 0,4+0,8i (4-3i) but something is wrong I wanna understanding everything in every part-...

    (0 votes)

    • cossine

      2 years agoPosted 2 years ago. Direct link to cossine's post “Remember to use brackets...”

      Remember to use brackets

      z/u = 0.4+0.8i # I presume there was some keyboard issue don't use "," in place of a decimal point

      => z = u(0.4+0.8i)

      (2 votes)

Dividing complex numbers review (article) | Khan Academy (2024)
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