Unit 5 - Objective 4 – Polar Form of a Complex Number
The rectangular form is not the only way to represent complex numbers.
The angle that the vector makes with the positive real axis is called the argument of the complex number. The length r is the called the absolute value of the complex number. The absolute value is a real number that is never negative. Using the Pythagorean Theorem, the length of r gives .
Given x + yj is a vector in the complex plane then r=is
the magnitude of the vector. Since and then x + yj = The expansion is often abbreviated as (r at angle )
So is called the polar or trigonometric form of a complex number.
Since we usually use the smallest positive value for we would use =360 degrees - 67.4 degrees. So