CUST 2023-2024

Maths for Physics 2

Session 11

Complex numbers and functions of a complex

variable
Summary

In this session we begin our study of complex analysis, which provides very powerful
methods that allow to tackle problems that would otherwise be very difficult, if not
impossible, to solve. Here we give some basic reminders of complex numbers, and
also introduce some basic topological notions such as regions or connectedness. We
also discuss the definition of a function of a complex variable.

i
Contents

1 Reminders of complex numbers 1

2 Neighborhoods, regions and connectedness 4

2.1 Neighborhoods and regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Connectedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 Function of a complex variable 9

3.1 Function of a complex variable: definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2 Definition of a function as a power series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

ii
Chapter 1

Reminders of complex numbers

A complex number is conventionally denoted by z. It can be written in the form

z = x + iy , (1.1)

where x and y are both real numbers. The number x is called the real part of z,
while y is called the imaginary part of z, and we write

x = Re z and y = Im z . (1.2)

The quantity i in (1.1) is called the imaginary unit number, and is such that

i2 = −1 . (1.3)

This feature of i is one of the reasons why complex numbers were constructed, since
they allow for solutions of algebraic equations that would otherwise not admit any
solution if we would restrict to real numbers: a simple example being of course the
equation z 2 + 1 = 0, which precisely yields the solutions ±i. When y = 0 in (1.1),
we say that z is real, whereas when x = 0 in (1.1) we say that z is pure imaginary.
As is illustrated in figure 1, complex numbers admit a geometrical representation:
indeed, we can view x and y as the Cartesian coordinates of the complex number z
in a plane, namely the complex plane 1 . For this reason, the expression (1.1) is called
the Cartesian form of z. In the complex plane, the (horizontal) x axis is called the
real axis, while the (vertical) y axis is called the imaginary axis. The coordinates of
z along the real and imaginary axes are then x and y. Therefore, a complex number
z can also be viewed as a two-dimensional vector (x, y).

1
The complex plane is also sometimes called the Argand plane or the Gauss plane.

1
CHAPTER 1. REMINDERS OF COMPLEX NUMBERS 2

Im n

x2
y

0
I Re

Figure 1: Geometrical representation of the complex number z by means of its

Cartesian coordinates x and y.

Im n

x2
y

0
I Re

Figure 2: Geometrical representation of the complex number z by means of its polar

coordinates ρ and θ.

Similarly to real variables, we can go from the Cartesian coordinates (x, y) to

another system of coordinates. A very useful one is the system of polar coordinates
(ρ, θ), which is illustrated in figure 2: just as for real variables, we say that the point
z in the complex plane is located at a distance ρ from the origin (which corresponds
to x = y = 0), and that the line that joins the origin to the point z makes an angle
θ with the real axis. It is then geometrically clear that the Cartesian coordinates
(x, y) are expressed in terms of the polar coordinates (ρ, θ) through

x = ρ cos θ and y = ρ sin θ . (1.4)

CHAPTER 1. REMINDERS OF COMPLEX NUMBERS 3

Substituting (1.4) into (1.1) allows to express the complex number z in polar form,
and we have

z = ρ cos θ + iρ sin θ = ρ (cos θ + i sin θ) . (1.5)

The quantity ρ provides a natural measure of the “length” of the 2D vector (x, y),
i.e. of the complex number z. We actually define this quantity to be the so-called
modulus of z, and we write
p
|z| ≡ ρ = x2 + y 2 . (1.6)

The angle θ is then called the (complex) argument of z, and we write

θ = Arg z . (1.7)

The polar form (1.5) of z then allows to write z in a very convenient form, namely

z = ρeiθ , (1.8)

where eiθ denotes the so-called polar exponential defined by

eiθ ≡ cos θ + i sin θ . (1.9)

The polar exponential is a particular case of the complex exponential ez that we’ll
define later on, and has all the standard properties that the real exponential has.
We then define the complex conjugate of z, which we commonly denote by2 z ∗ , to
be the complex number given by

z ∗ = x − iy . (1.10)

That is, z ∗ is the symmetric of z with respect to the real axis.

Two complex numbers z1 and z2 are equal if and only if both their real parts are
equal and their imaginary parts are equal, i.e.

z1 = z2 ⇐⇒ x1 = x2 and y1 = y2 . (1.11)

All the usual rules to algebraically manipulate complex numbers (addition, multi-
plication, etc. . . ) follow from the corresponding rules for real numbers.

2
We may also find z̄ as another common notation.
Chapter 2

Neighborhoods, regions and

connectedness

Before we actually define the notion of function, we must first define a certain
number of concepts that are necessary in order to properly characterize a function
(and, later on, the notions of continuity, differentiability, etc. . . ).

2.1 Neighborhoods and regions

Let’s consider some point z0 ∈ C. We denote by C(z0 , r) the circle of center z0 and
radius r > 0: it is defined to be the set of all points z in the complex plane such
that |z − z0 | = r, which we write as

C(z0 , r) = {z ∈ C | |z − z0 | = r} . (2.1)

We can then define the disk D(z0 , r) of center z0 ∈ C and radius r > 0 to be the set
of all points z in the complex plane such that |z − z0 | ⩽ r, which we write as

D(z0 , r) = {z ∈ C | |z − z0 | ⩽ r} . (2.2)

We then define a neighborhood of z0 to be a disk D(z0 , ϵ) with a small enough radius

ϵ. That is, a neighborhood of z0 only contains the points that are sufficiently close
to z0 . For clarity, we may from time to time use the specific notation N (z0 , ϵ) to
denote a neighborhood of z0 of radius ϵ, where ϵ is then understood to be small.
Let’s then consider some set S of points. A point z0 of S is called an interior
point of S if there exists a sufficiently small ϵ > 0 such that the corresponding
neighborhood N (z0 , ϵ) is entirely within S. For instance, if S simply consists of two
points, say S = {z0 , z1 }, then S has no interior point. This notion of interior point
is illustrated in figure 3.

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CHAPTER 2. NEIGHBORHOODS, REGIONS. . . 5

In

0 Re

Figure 3: Interior point z0 of a set S of points.

We say that a set S is an open set if all the points of S are interior points.
Therefore, in particular, an open set can not contain its boundary, because if we take
a point on the boundary, then any neighborhood of such a point will mandatorily
include points that are exterior to S. Therefore, we then say that z0 is a boundary
point of S if any neighborhood of z0 contains at least one point in S and at least
one point that is not in S. This notion of boundary point is illustrated in figure 4.

A set containing all points of a set S and none, some or all of the boundary
points of S is then called a region, which we can denote by R. In particular, a
region hence also has a boundary: we then say that R is closed if it contains all its
boundary points. Furthermore, a region R is said to be bounded if there exists a
finite M > 0 such that any point z ∈ R satisfies |z| ⩽ M . In other words, a region
is bounded if we can find a circle, with a finite radius M , that entirely embeds R:
this is illustrated in figure 5. A region R that is both closed and bounded is called
compact.

2.2 Connectedness
Finally, let’s discuss the notion of connectedness. To do this, let’s first consider two
points z and z ′ in the complex plane: we denote by [zz ′ ] the straight segment line
CHAPTER 2. NEIGHBORHOODS, REGIONS. . . 6

Im n

to S
points extend
O Re

Figure 4: Boundary point z0 of a set S of points.

Im A Region R
Circle
bonded
econ

Re
y

Figure 5: Illustration of a bounded region R.

that joins these two points. Let’s then consider an open region R, and let’s take
any two points z and z ′ in R. Then, suppose that we can construct a sequence of
points z1 = z, z2 , . . . , zn = z ′ such that

i) z1 , . . . , zn are all points of R;

ii) any segment line [zj zj+1 ], j = 1, . . . , n − 1, is entirely contained in R.

If we can find such a sequence of points, then R is said to be connected. Figure 6

CHAPTER 2. NEIGHBORHOODS, REGIONS. . . 7

depicts a region R that is connected, whereas figure 7 depicts a region R that is not
connected. A connected open region is called a domain.

Im N R

0 Re

Figure 6: Illustration of a region R that is connected.

Im n P
in R
A

0 Re

Figure 7: Illustration of a region R that is not connected.

CHAPTER 2. NEIGHBORHOODS, REGIONS. . . 8

A last notation may be useful when we want to exclude a point z0 from a region
R: we can write this as R\{z0 }. If we want to exclude a whole set S of points from
R, then we write R\S.
Chapter 3

Function of a complex variable

3.1 Function of a complex variable: definition

We are now in a position where we can define the notion of function of a complex
variable:

Function of a complex variable

Let R be a region in the complex plane. Let z ∈ R, and let

f (z) be a complex number that is associated with z. If to each
z ∈ R corresponds a unique such number f (z), then we say
that f (z) is a function of the complex variable z.

In this case, the region R is typically called the domain of definition1 of the function
f . Then, the set formed by the points f (z), which are called the image points, is
called the range of f .
Remember that for real variables we often write y = f (x): this means that to the
number x is associated the number y. The set of all such numbers y represents the
image of the set of all numbers x through the correspondence given by f . This can
be geometrically represented as a line, or curve, in the (x, y) plane. For a function of
a complex variable, this is of course more complicated since the variable is complex
and thus two-dimensional, and so is the image. It is however still possible to give a
pictorial representation of a function f as a mapping from a complex plane where
the points are denoted by z = x + iy to “another” complex plane where the points
are denoted by w = u + iv (that is, z plays the role of x for real variables, and w
the role of y). We can thus view a function f (z) as a mapping from the z plane, or
z space, to the w plane, or w space.
1
Note however that the domain of definition of a function is not necessarily a domain as defined
in section 2.2 above.

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CHAPTER 3. FUNCTION OF A COMPLEX VARIABLE 10

Example: one of the simplest function that we can think of is the square function,

f (z) = z 2 . (3.1)

Let’s suppose that the domain of definition R of f is the upper half plane, i.e. the
set of all numbers with a positive imaginary part,

R = {z ∈ C | Im z ⩾ 0} . (3.2)

This can be easily expressed in the polar form, and

R = z = ρeiθ

| θ ∈ [0, π] . (3.3)

The image, let’s call it I, of this region R under the function f (z) = z 2 is thus

I = w = z 2 = ρ2 e2iθ

| θ ∈ [0, π] , (3.4)

which we can also write, since 2θ ∈ [0, 2π] then, as

I = w = ρeiθ

| θ ∈ [0, 2π] . (3.5)

Therefore, the upper half plane in the z plane is mapped, under the function f , onto
the whole complex plane in the w plane. This is schematized in figure 8.

4 1 11
É

zplaned upland

Figure 8: Mapping of the upper half plane in the z plane onto the whole complex
plane in the w plane under the function f (z) = z 2 .
CHAPTER 3. FUNCTION OF A COMPLEX VARIABLE 11

Elementary functions (polynomials, exponentials, trigonometric functions,. . . )

of a complex variable z can be naturally constructed as mere generalizations of the
corresponding elementary functions of a real variable x. Namely, if f (x) denotes an
elementary function of the real variable x, we then merely define the corresponding
function f (z) of the complex variable z by simply replacing the real variable x by
the complex variable z:
n
X n
X
j
Pn (x) = aj x → Pn (z) = aj z j
j=0 j=0

ex → ez

sin x, cos x, tan x → sin z, cos z, tan z

..
.

We then assume that the functions f (z) constructed in this way satisfy all the
standard properties of their real counterparts. For instance, we assume that for two
numbers z1 , z2 ∈ C we have

ez1 +z2 = ez1 ez2 ,

which allows in particular to write, with the polar exponential,

ez = ex+iy = ex eiy = ex (cos y + i sin y) .

3.2 Definition of a function as a power series

Another approach to constructing functions f (z) of a complex variable z is by means
of power series. This also provides an adequate way of defining more general func-
tions (which, for instance, could not be expressible in terms of simple elementary
functions). Of course, this method is perfectly consistent (as it must be!) with the
simpler approach used above to define elementary functions.
Let’s assume that the real function f (x) admits a power series of the form
∞
X
f (x) = aj (x − x0 )j , (3.6)
j=0

which is just a Taylor series about the point x = x0 . Then we can define the function
f (z) of the complex variable z to be the series obtained from (3.6) upon replacing
CHAPTER 3. FUNCTION OF A COMPLEX VARIABLE 12

x and x0 by z and z0 , that is

∞
X
f (z) = aj (z − z0 )j . (3.7)
j=0

Remember that such an approach is also used for instance in order to construct
functions of matrices.
Of course, as usual when dealing with series, it works well only when the series
converges. A good (and simple) test of the convergence of a series is the so-called
ratio test. For the series (3.7), the ratio test ensures that the series converges if the
limit of the modulus of the ratio of two successive terms of the series is smaller than
1, that is if

aj+1
lim |z − z0 | < 1 . (3.8)
j→∞ aj

Therefore, let’s call R the limit (if it exists)

aj
R = lim . (3.9)
j→∞ aj+1

Combining (3.8) with (3.9) hence shows that the ratio test ensures the convergence
of the series (3.7) for any z ∈ C that satisfies

aj
|z − z0 | < lim = R. (3.10)
j→∞ aj+1

This shows that (3.7) converges inside the disk D(z0 , R) of center z0 and radius R:
for this reason, we call R the radius of convergence of the series (3.7). When R = ∞,
then the series (3.7) converges over the whole complex plane. When R = 0, then
the series (3.7) only converges at z = z0 .

Example: the complex exponential ez admits the following power series around z = 0:

∞
z
X zj
e = . (3.11)
j=0
j!

Its radius of convergence R is thus, in view of (3.9), and since aj = 1/j! here,

(j + 1)! (j + 1)j!
R = lim = lim = lim (j + 1) = ∞ . (3.12)
j→∞ j! j→∞ j! j→∞

Therefore, the power series (3.11) of the exponential function converges over the
whole complex plane.