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Category: Complex numbers
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Recognizing a Limitation As we continue with our pit stop in the series on complex numbers, let us remind ourselves where we have reached. In Trigonometric Identity Crises, we looked at some trigonometric identities. This followed on the heels of Round and Round, in which we saw why a right angle is defined to have…
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‘Sining’ In We are in the middle of a pit stop in the middle of our series on complex numbers. The pit stop is intended to introduce the reader to the basics of trigonometry. In the previous post, we saw why we have 360° in a circle and 90° for a right angle. We also…
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A Triggered Review We have reached a remarkable junction in our journey through complex numbers. We are in the middle of a pit stop in which we are looking at some trigonometric ideas. And on the occasion of Pi day 2025, I think this post makes a lot of sense. Two weeks back, in My…
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The post explores the historical origins of trigonometric terms such as sine, cosine, and tangent. It traces the name “sine” back to the Sanskrit word “jīvá,” reflecting the journey of mathematical concepts across cultures. The author emphasizes the importance of knowledge transcending borders and hints at the next topic on angle measurement.
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Brief Flashback My mathematical world was thrown wide open when, in the ninth grade, my classmates and I were introduced to the study of trigonometry. Following that, when I studied at IIT – Bombay, I wrote a research paper titled The Synthesis of Coupler Curves and designed a mobile industrial robot, both projects requiring the…
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A Brief Recap Our journey into the wonders of complex numbers continues. In this series I hope to introduce the reader to the reality of complex numbers. In the previous post, we reached the stage where I introduced the square root of -1 as the unit of the imaginary numbers, parallel to the number 1,…
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Revisiting the New Kind of Number We are in the middle of a series on complex numbers. I started this series with Primer to Complex Numbers, in which I shared some basic algebra tools that we would need for our exploration of complex numbers, ending in a brief discussion about the importance of the discriminant. In…
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The Discriminant Revisited Last week I began a series on complex numbers with the post Primer to Complex Numbers. At the end of that post, I considered the discriminant in the formula for solving a quadratic equation. We saw that it is easy to comprehend what a zero or positive discriminant would mean simply because…
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A Promise Remembered At the end of the previous post, I had announced that I will be starting a series on complex numbers. The name ‘complex numbers’ is unfortunate. Mathematics is already surrounded by an aura of mystery. There was no need to name something that would heighten that mystery and increase the trepidation of…
Acutely Obtuse 