Complex numbers
Números complejos
- Date
- 1572 · confidence high
- Place
- Bologna, Italy
- Credited to
- Rafael Bombelli (Algebra); geometric interpretation by Wessel (1799), Argand (1806) and Gauss (1831)
- People
- 👤 Rafael Bombelli1526–1573
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
Rules for calculating with roots of negative numbers (plus of minus and minus of minus) that make it possible to obtain real roots of cubics in the irreducible case. Complex numbers went from a mere device to a legitimate object with the Argand-Gauss plane.
The name imaginary, coined by Descartes in 1637, was derogatory; the symbol i is Euler's (1777).
What it led to
- the fundamental theorem of algebra
- complex analysis
- Euler's identity
- quaternions
- quantum mechanics and electrical engineering
Built on
- Cardano's formula
Made possible
- De Moivre's formula1707-1730
- Euler formula and Euler identity1748
- Fundamental theorem of algebra1799
- alternating-current circuit analysis
- signal processing