MedVision ad

truly Complex. (1 Viewer)

YannY

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
190
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
[Q. Given |z|=1 find the locus of z^2.]

I look at this q and its wtf BBQ, it dosnt make sense to me because z^2 has an imaginary part and i honestly dont know how to plot a locus with an imaginary part.

First attempt:
z^2=x^2-y^2+2xyi
x^2+y^2=1

Thats about it...

Later in the day -

I tried using mod-arg form, this is what i get
z=cis@
z^2=cis2@

So i concluded this would be a dotted circle in the complex region with centre at nought. But then is this really a circle? I asked myself.

Somebody help me?
 

undalay

Active Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2006
Messages
1,002
Location
Ashfield
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
This is how i approached it.

|z| = 1
|Z^2| = 1

arg (z) = a
arg(z^2) = arg(z) +arg(z) = 2a
thus arg(z^2) can be all arg.


i.e. unit circle?
 

conics2008

Active Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
1,228
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
|z| = root of x^2+y^2

hence (root of x^2+y^2)^2=1

x^2+y^2=1 which is a circle with center (0,0) and radius 1
 

YannY

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
190
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
undalay said:
This is how i approached it.

|z| = 1
|Z^2| = 1

arg (z) = a
arg(z^2) = arg(z) +arg(z) = 2a
thus arg(z^2) can be all arg.


i.e. unit circle?
Thought of that, makes no sense.

For example: instead of asking find the locus of z^2, i ask find the locus of z..

Now i can say
|z|=1
arg z = a
Like you: thus arg(z) can be all arg.

Hence z is a unit circle.

No this is not true because a locus cannot exist on the complex region, z is simply a complex number with modulus of one.

Tell me im wrong lol... im starting to consider this question being faulty.
 

YannY

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
190
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
conics2008 said:
|z| = root of x^2+y^2

hence (root of x^2+y^2)^2=1

x^2+y^2=1 which is a circle with center (0,0) and radius 1
Thanks for trying but i didnt ask find the locus of |z|^2, the q is find the locus of z^2 which is (x+iy)^2.
 

undalay

Active Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2006
Messages
1,002
Location
Ashfield
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
I dont understand ur explanation.

The locus of z is the unit circle?
Do you agree?

Now if u square any vector on this circle...its still going to lie on the unit circle!

Simply because the squared vector's modulus is gonig to be 1^2 = 1, and the arg is going to be 2x the arg of z, and since the arg of z can be anything, the arg of z^2 can be anything.

wat doesn't make sense?

edit: conic's worknig out looks fine to me also
 

Iruka

Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2006
Messages
544
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
It's a locus in the Argand plane. Complex number questions just about always have a geometric interpretation as a complex number can always be thought of as a 2d vector of real numbers.

If you think of it as a function of theta, where theta = arg(z), then z^2 just travels around the unit circle twice as fast as z.
 
Last edited:

YannY

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
190
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
if there is give me a clear example and explain
 

hon1hon2hon3

Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2008
Messages
110
Gender
Male
HSC
2008
I dont see what dosent make sense from explaination above . .

Since lZl = 1 <- for this, this is a unit circle with radius 1

and Since lZl=1 then therefore lZ^2l is also equal to 1 ... lZ^2l=1

From lZl = 1 <- a unit cricle . . graph it , its argument can be all arg.

and for lZ^2l=1 we can say that 2 arg z , but we already know that arg z can be all arg . . . so whats is two times that ? its still all arg

So my the way i do it , the locus of lZ^2l = 1 , its the same graph with lZl = 1.

Just that arg Z^2 = 2 arg z .

:p I am noobish in complex number , if i have explained anything wrong , please correct me . Peace
 

Managore

Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2004
Messages
158
Location
Sydney Australia
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
YannY said:
if there is give me a clear example
Umm... The locus of z if |z| = 1?

Ask yourself "What [complex] values satisfy |z| = 1?". The answer is of course the unit circle. Since the question is obviously dealing with the complex plane, the locus will be all complex numbers which satisfy |z| = 1. If the question is asking about points on the 2D plane, the locus will include all appropriate points on the 2D plane.

A locus is simply a set of points which satisfy the given conditions. The domain which you are dealing with may be the real line (R), or the 2D plane (R^2), or the complex numbers (C), or any domain you can think of.
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top