Why does graphing a complex number i.e. z + i move it up/down accordingly to the sign of its values,
whilst an argument for arg(z+i) moves down - opposite to the sign of its imaginary values.
Given a point z, the point z+i is one unit up from this in the complex plane, because the real part is unchanged but the imaginary part has increased by 1 due to adding i.
Meanwhile, for arg(z+i), this is arg(z – (-i)). Recall that to sketch arg(z - z
0) = theta (where z
0 is a fixed complex number), we shift the locus of arg(z) = theta (
which is a ray starting at the origin, excluding the origin, making angle theta with the positive real axis) so that the ray starts at z
0 instead. So for arg(z+i) = theta, since it's arg(z – (-i)) = theta, we shift the ray arg(z) = theta to start at -i, which means we shift it down one unit.