We already know the exponential function for real . We want to generalise it to complex arguments because it is the most important function in your (physics) life! Let’s have a look at again. We can define as follows:
The exponential function is the unique solution of the first order differential equation
Task: 1. Think of other, better
examples.
2. Can you define for
?
In this case, there are more and better
examples, se last semester’s course notes.
Now, the solution of the differential equation above is , but can we express this in a different manner? Suppose you had no –button on your scientific calculator, and you were a survivor on a remote planet with the task to reconstruct mathematics and physics as a part of personkind’s knowledge, how would you calculate ? Let’s try to write as a ‘polynomial’
where we have to determine the constants , ,... from the differential equation:
We now equate terms of the same power in , since different powers vary in different ways as changes, so we can disentagle the uinfinite series (cf. equality of polynomials)
We recognise that the general form of this power series is
The symbol is called the factorial. One defines . We write the equation for in another, more condensed and elegant form
You have to remember this formula throughout your whole life. Now, we generalise this ‘all–your–life’ formula to complex numbers ,
Next to the exponential, certainly and belong to some of the most important functions in physics. In much the same spirit as above, we can define them by their differential equations, and derive an expression in terms of a series. Here we state the result, that can be used to define and :
task: Calculate the derivatives of and from the series definition above and check that it is consistent! (i.e., and .
Now we are in a position to test our series for the complex exponential,
We use it for a purely imaginary variable,
where is real (remember that now that we have both real and complex numbers, one always has to state which type of number one is talking about). Remember
This lead to
The terms are alternately real and imaginary, so we cansplit the series
We compare the right and side of this equation with the series for and , we find the important Euler’s Formula
Using Euler’s formula for the variable (angle in our polar representation), we find for any complex number the representation