Home page for accesible maths Math 101 Chapter 4: Taylor series and complex numbers

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4.26 Complex numbers

The equation x2=4x^{2}=4 has two solutions, namely

so the equation x2=-4x^{2}=-4 ought to have two solutions.

We introduce a (magic) number ii such that i2=-1i^{2}=-1, and then we have solutions:

Solve the quadratic equation x2+6x+10=0x^{2}+6x+10=0 by completing the square: