Thursday, October 19, 2017

Find a complex number $w$ such that $w^2=-sqrt{3} - i$



This is a problem in my undergrad foundations class.
\begin{equation}
w^2=-\sqrt{3} - i \\w=(-\sqrt{3}-i)^{\frac{1}{2}} \\w=\sqrt{2}\bigg(\cos\frac{5\pi}{12}+i\sin\frac{5\pi}{12}\bigg)
\end{equation}
So I get to here and the next step is
\begin{equation}
\sqrt{2}\bigg(\cos\bigg(\frac{5\pi}{12}+\pi\bigg)+i\sin\bigg(\frac{5\pi}{12}+\pi\bigg)\bigg)

\end{equation}
and this is equal to
\begin{equation}
w(\cos\pi+i\sin\pi)=-w
\end{equation}
Can someone help me with understanding the last two steps. Thanks


Answer



$\omega^2 = $$2(-\frac {\sqrt 3}{2} + i \frac 12)\\
2(\cos \frac {7\pi}{6} + i \sin \frac {7\pi}{6})$



$\omega = \sqrt 2(\cos \frac {7\pi}{12} + i \sin \frac {7\pi}{12})$




And here you are....



When we take the square root of the square of something, there are always two solutions. For example $x^2 = 9 \implies x = \pm 3$



We can put in the $\pm symbol here, but that technique breaks down with higher roots.



A more general approach...



$\omega^2 =2(\cos (\frac {7\pi}{6}+2n\pi) + i \sin (\frac {7\pi}{6}+2n\pi))$




Takes advantage of the period nature of the trig functions.



$\omega =\sqrt 2(\cos (\frac {7\pi}{12}+n\pi) + i \sin (\frac {7\pi}{12}+n\pi))$



And now we can look at just the solutions where the argument is in $[0,2\pi)$



$\omega =\sqrt 2(\cos \frac {7\pi}{12} + i \sin \frac {7\pi}{12}),\sqrt 2(\cos (\frac {7\pi}{12}+\pi) + i \sin (\frac {7\pi}{12}+\pi))$


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