Can someone explain to me in simple terms what complex numbers are?

Question

ok i get that...so what is a addictive identity and a multiplicative identity?

and a subset

Answer 1

Complex numbers are numbers that are not "real numbers."

For example the sqrt of -27 is not a real value. You could never take two equal numbers and multiply them to get a negative number (lol..don't try it you never will). So the math people had to find a way to show numbers that are not real. So they created complex numbers. They are written in a+bi form. Where i sqrd is the sqrt of -1.

So you can do this with complex numbers. If you wanted to show the sqrt of -25 you would do this.

1. First you notice that -25=25(-1)=25i^2 (remember that i^2 is -1)
2. And then you just sqrt 25i^2 like normal to get 5i.

Answer 2

Let me try to explain this as simply as I can.

In real number system, that is the number you use every day, any number contains just one part. For example, 1, 2, 3, 205, 234.23.... It means how large the number is.

There are another numbering system called imaginary numbers.
When you have a number such as -4 and you have to figure out, what number, multiplied by itself will result in -4, you end up with a problem - in real number system, there is no such number. In imaginary number system, it is 2i. If you multiply 2i with 2i, you get -4.

Complex number is a combination of two. They are expressed in a format, 24 + 8i (for example). It has two parts, real and imaginary, and it can express more complex number than either of them alone.

Answer 3

They are numbers that don't exist.
For example you can't take a square root of a negative number, but in algebra they do it in order to solve equations. So the square root of negative 4 would be expressed as 2i, which is a complex number. The i stands for imaginary number....lol.

Answer 4

Any number of the form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is an imaginary number whose square equals -1. thats the only way i can explain it,sorry.