Lecture 3 - Complex Numbers and Polynomials

Topics covered:

• Complex Numbers

• Real Polynomials

Readings: Notes

1 Introduction
Before diving into the principles of control theory, we will revise some of
the fundamental mathematical concepts we’ll use in this course. Complex
numbers allow solutions to all polynomial equations, even those that have no
solutions in real numbers. More precisely, the fundamental theorem of algebra
asserts that every non-constant polynomial equation with real or complex
coefficients has a solution which is a complex number. In our case, we will
use complex numbers to analyze the stability of a system and for
the design of controllers. Real polynomials play an important role in the
analysis of control systems. We’ll see them appear through the application of
the Laplace transform to solving di↵erential equations and in the formation
of transfer functions. The roots of these polynomials will provide us with
a great deal of information about the stability and performance of control
systems.

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2 Complex numbers
2.1 Definition
The set of complex numbers is C.
A complex number is composed of two real numbers called the real part and
the imaginary part.
x2C

.........................................

........................................

Written as:

........................................

Note: Historically, engineers use j and mathematicians use i.

The imaginary unit:

........................................

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Because no real number satisfies the above equation, j was called an imaginary
number by Rene Descartes.

2.2 History
• The first known appearance of a negative number under the radical is
in the Stereometria of Heron of Alexandria, an engineer, mathematician,
and inventor living in Alexandria in Roman Egypt.

• In 1545, Cardano was probably the first mathematician to use the square
root of a negative in a computation, though he considered it useless.

• In 1572, Rafael Bombelli demonstrated what we’d recognize today as

the rules of complex arithmetic and showed clearly that real solutions to
cubic equations may be written in terms including the square roots of
negative numbers, providing evidence that they might not be so useless.

• Rene Descartes in 1637 coined the term “imaginary” for such a number,
probably intended to be derogatory, and the name stuck.

• Euler in 1777 introduced the symbol “i” for the square root of negative
1. He also derived critically important results. Yet even Euler still
grappled with the meaning of imaginary numbers, asserting that they are
“neither nothing, not greater than nothing, nor less than nothing, which
necessarily renders them imaginary or impossible.” While we certainly
don’t consider them to be “impossible” today, the observation that they
cannot be arranged by less-than or greater-than relationships is true and
fundamentally makes complex numbers fundamentally di↵erent from the
real numbers.

• Caspar Wessel (Norwegian surveyer) who first formulated the modern

geometric interpretation of complex numbers, but the use of complex
numbers probably wasn’t truly respected as “proper mathematics” until
the work of Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1831, when he simply defined the
complex numbers, thus introducing the name we use today, to be the
points in the plane.

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 • Finally, Sir William Rowan Hamilton, in 1833, made some sense of the
situation.

2.3 Defining complex numbers

• Complex numbers is a pair (a, b) of real numbers that we write as:

........................................

p
• The symbol 1 has been explained by Sir Hamilton as:
p
– 1 is absurd in the theory of real numbers
p p
– 1= 1 + 0j is possible in the complex numbers

2.4 Operations
Consider x, y 2 C complex numbers, and the notations R(x) to be the real
part of the x and I(x) to be the imaginary part of the x.

1. Addition:

x + y = ............................................................

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2. Subtraction:

x y = ............................................................

3. Multiplication:

x · y = .......................................................

or by using the notations: x = a + jb and y = c + jd:

x · y = ................................................

Note: Table below provides the multiplication of 1 and j with each other:
row ⇥ column 1 j
1 1 j
j j -1
4. The complex conjugate:

x̄ = ....................................
Or if x = a + jb

) x̄ = ...........................

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 5. The absolute value:

| x |= ...........................................................

| x |2 R

6. Division:
x x · ȳ 1
z= = = xȳ
y y · ȳ y ȳ

R(x)R(y) + I(x)I(y) R(y)I(x) R(x)I(y)

z= 2 2 +j·
(R(y)) + (I(y)) (R(y))2 + (I(y))2

2.5 Euler’s formula and Polar Decomposition

Leonard Euler showed in 1748 that:

ej = cos( ) + j sin( ) (1)

z2C
Polar form:

z = .............................

Depending on the quadrant where you are, the angle can be computed as:

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 8 ⇣ ⌘
> tan 1 I(z)
R(z) > 0
>
>
> ⇣ R(z) ⌘ ,
>
>
>
> tan 1 R(z)I(z)
+ ⇡, R(z) < 0 \ I(z) 0
>
> ⇣ ⌘
>
< I(z)
tan 1 R(z) ⇡, R(z) < 0 \ I(z) < 0
= arctan(I(z), R(z)) = (2)
>
> ⇡
>
> 2, R(z) = 0 \ I(z) > 0
>
>
>
> ⇡
R(z) = 0 \ I(z) < 0
>
> 2,
>
:undefined, z=0

Interpretation of multiplication and division: Lengths multiply or di-

vide and angles add or subtract
z 1 , z2 2 C
z1 z2 =.................................................
z1 (3)
= ..............................................
z2

2.6 Calculating angles

The angle or phase or argument of the complex number a + bj is the angle,
measured in radians, from the point 1 + 0j to a + bj, with counterclockwise
denoting positive angle. The angle of a complex number c = a + bj is denoted
\c:

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 \c = ............................................... = .........................................

Consider a rational expression such as:

p
(1 j 3)(1 + j)
x=
3j
The angle of x can be computed using polar coordinates such as:

\x =............................................ =
=........................................... = (4)
=...........................................

2.7 Important uses of complex numbers

• The roots of polynomials with real coefficients are complex numbers.

• The Laplace transform relies on a complex-valued variable.

• Complex numbers are used to form the ”vector loop equations” of planar
kinematic chains.

• The Schrodinger equation of quantum mechanics uses complex numbers

• Hamilton extension of complex numbers to the quaternions models, which

include rules for extra symbols j and k in addition to i, which are widely
used as a model for 3D rotation in computer graphics, robotics, and
advanced control systems.

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3 Real polynomials
• A polynomial is a sum of terms, with each term consisting of a coefficient
(number) and a power of one or more indeterminates, e.g. as shown
below:

................................................

.................................................

• A real polynomial only includes..............................

• If the polynomial includes only one indeterminate, we call it .................

........................................................

• The degree of a polynomial is ..............................

For example, the degree of the polynomials below is:

degree(3x + 4x3 + 1) = .....................

degree(3xy + 4x3 y 2 ) = ...................

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 One as the coefficient of the highest power
• A monic polynomial has the .............................

e.g:
1x2 + 5x + 6
1x + 10

Polynomial of degree 1
• A linear polynomial is ....................

e.g:
ax + b

Polynomial of degree 2
• A quadratic polynomial is ....................

e.g:
ax2 + bx + c

• The polynomial defines a function by value substitution, e.g:

......................................

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 • The polynomial equation sets the polynomial equal to zero:

.....................................

Solution to polynomial equation

• A root r of a polynomial is .......................

3.1 Fundamental Theorem of Algebra

Every real polynomial of degree n can be re-written as a product of n linear
monic factors and a real number k, called the linaer factorization:

p(x) = ..........................................................

where r1 , r2 , r3 .... are the roots (values that can be repeated)

Special cases:

1. The root of a first order polynomial ax + b is r = ....................

ax + b = .........................

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 2. The roots of a quadratic polynomial ax2 +bx+c has roots r = ..................
Highest power coefficient =1

ax2 + bx + c = ..........................

Example:
p(x) = 4x3 + 16x2 + 24x + 16 = 0
The roots of the above polynomial are:
r1 = 2, r2 = 1 + 1j, r3 = 1 1j
The linear factorization:

p(x) = .............................................

3.2 Conjugate Pairs of Roots

For every real polynomial of degree larger than two, if r is a root with
imaginary part I(r) 6= 0, than r̄ is also a root.

Irreductible Quadratic Form of real polynomials

• Pairs of complex roots form .......................................

· · · (x r)(x r̄) · · · = · · · (x2 2R(r)x + (R(r))2 + (I(r))2 ) · · ·

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 • ) Every real polynomial has a unique irreductible factorization consist-
ing of real linear and/or real quadratic factors.

Example: The polynomial

p(x) =10x7 + 140x6 + 1070x5 + 4620x4 + 11240x3 + 15760x2 + 12280x + 4080 =

=10(x2 + 6 + 34)(x2 + 2x + 2)(x + 1)(x + 2)(x + 3)

Has ..................................... roots:

3.3 Finding the ROOTS

• Iterative methods are used to find roots numerically

• Scientific programming languages:

– Matlab: roots
– Python (NumPy library): roots
– Mathematica: Roots

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