complex number

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noun

a mathematical expression (a + bi) in which a and b are real numbers and i2 = −1.

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Which one of these commonly confused words can act as an adverb or a pronoun?

their

there

they're

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Origin of complex number

First recorded in 1825–35

Words nearby complex number

complexion, complexioned, complexionless, complexity, complexity theory, complex number, complex odontoma, complexometric titration, complexometry, complexone, complex partial seizure

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for complex number

Provided that quantum mechanics is correct—an assumption few would quibble with—the team’s argument essentially guarantees that complex numbers are an unavoidable part of our description of the physical universe.
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through March 13)|Singularity Hub Staff|March 13, 2021|Singularity Hub
The elliptic curves that make up the Jacobians take their solutions from the complex numbers, which gives their graphs a bulkier appearance than the graphs of elliptic curves whose solutions come from the real numbers.
Mathematicians Set Numbers in Motion to Unlock Their Secrets|Kelsey Houston-Edwards|February 22, 2021|Quanta Magazine
To solve the Conway-Jones polynomial generally, mathematicians must assign complex numbers to all six variables so that the 105-term equation is true.
Tetrahedron Solutions Finally Proved Decades After Computer Search|Kevin Hartnett|February 2, 2021|Quanta Magazine
Around the same time, Bernhard Riemann was studying surfaces that arose in his study of complex numbers.
Topology 101: The Hole Truth|David S. Richeson|January 26, 2021|Quanta Magazine

This polynomial, they found, has a coveted property called “real stability,” which means that the complex numbers that make the polynomial evaluate to zero never lie in the upper half of the complex plane.
Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record|Erica Klarreich|October 8, 2020|Quanta Magazine
“Our members continue to face a number of challenges,” she said.
The Republican War on Kale|Patricia Murphy|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of dissenters though is unprecedented in the modern era.
Democrats Accidentally Save Boehner From Republican Coup|Ben Jacobs, Jackie Kucinich|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Starting under Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft, embassies headed by career diplomats increased in number.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The number of diplomats was pitiful (45 appointees in 1860), as was the amount of money allocated to them.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Jett sees this number as a marker of how much the president allows professionals to do the job.
U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale|William O’Connor|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
We had six field-pieces, but we only took four, harnessed wit twice the usual number of horses.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV.|Various
There are a number of bacilli, called acid-fast bacilli, which stain in the same way as the tubercle bacillus.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
Five of the number had studied with Liszt before, and the young men are artists already before the public.
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
I do not think the average number of passengers on a corresponding route in our country could be so few as twenty.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley

British Dictionary definitions for complex number

complex number

noun

any number of the form a + i b, where a and b are real numbers and i = √–1See number (def. 1)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for complex number

complex number

[ kŏm′plĕks′ ]

A number that can be expressed in terms of i (the square root of -1). Mathematically, such a number can be written a + bi, where a and b are real numbers. An example is 4 + 5i.

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complex number

noun

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Origin of complex number

Words nearby complex number

Example sentences from the Web for complex number

British Dictionary definitions for complex number

noun

Scientific definitions for complex number