Math 185: Homework 1 Selected Solutions

pg. 8: #2

Show that

1
1/z

= z. for z 6= 0.

Proof.
1 z
z
1
=
= =z
1/z
1/z z
1

pg. 12: #4

Verify that

2z | Re z| + | Im z|.

Proof. Following the hint,

0 (| Re z| | Im z|)2 = | Re z|2 2| Re z|| Im z| + | Im z|2 = |z|2 2| Re z|| Im z|.
Rearranging and adding |z|2 to both sides,
2|z|2 |z|2 + 2| Re z|| Im z| = (| Re z| + | Im z|)2 .
Taking a square root completes the proof.

pg. 12: #5

In each case, sketch the set of points determined by the given condition (Ill describe instead
of sketch):
(a) |z 1 + i| = 1: circle of radius 1 centered at 1 i.
(b) |z + i| 3: solid disk (with boundary) of radius 3 centered at i.
(c) |z 4i| 4: the compliment of the open disk (without boundary) of radius 4 centered
at 4i.
1

pg. 14, #7

Show that | Re(2 + z + z 3 )| 4 when |z| 1.

Proof. Using the fact that | Re w| |w| and the triangle inequality,
| Re(2 + z + z 3 )| |(2 + z + z 3 )| 2 + |z| + |z|3 2 + 1 + 1 = 4.

pg. 22, #1

Find the principle argument Arg(z) when

i
(a) z = 22i
. We will calculate using arg and then choose the multiple of 2 so that our
final answer is in the interval (, ]. Using the formula from the text,

arg

i
= arg(i) arg(2 2i)
2 2i
= /2 + 2k1 (3pi/4 + 2k2 )
= 5/4 + 2k3

i
) = 3/4.
Choosing k3 = 1, we have Arg( 22i

(b) z = ( 3 i)6 . By inductively using the formula, we have arg(z 6 ) = 6 arg(z), so,

arg(( 3 i)6 ) = 6 (/6) + 2k = + 2k.

Taking k = 1 gives Arg(( 3 i)6 ) = .

pg. 29, #8

(a) Prove that the usual formula solves the quadratic equation
az 2 + bz + c = 0
for a 6= 0 when a, b, and c are complex numbers.
Proof. By rearranging and completing the square,


b 2 b2 4ac
=
.
z+
2a
4a2
Taking the square root and rearranging,

b2 4ac
2a

where we are allowing to represent both possible complex square roots.

z=

b +

(b) Find the roots of the equation z 2 + 2z + (1

i) = 0.

Using the formula from

(a)
gives
z
=
1
+
2
i. To find the value of i, we use the

polar form z = rei . For i, r = 1 and = /2. Then using the n-th root formula with
n = 2,


/2+2k

1/2 i
2
i=1 e
where k = 0 or k = 1. We have

and

1
i
i= +
2
2

1
i
i =
2
2

giving the roots

1
i
z = 1 + +
2
2
and

1
i
z = 1 .
2
2

pg. 33 #7

Determine the accumulation points of each of the following sets:

(a) zn = in , n = 1, 2, 3, . . .
Note that z1 = i, z2 = 1, z3 = i, z4 = 1, z5 = i, . . ., and so S = {zn } =
{1, 1, i, i}. In class we showed that any finite set has no accumulation points, so
this set has no accumulation points. For completeness, here is a proof of that fact:
Let S = {z1 , . . . , zk } be a finite set of complex numbers. Let w C and define
= min(|w z1 |, . . . , |w zk |). Then B/2 (w) \ {w} is a deleted neighborhood of w
containing no elements of S and hence w is not an accumulation point of S.
(b) zn =

in
n,

n = 1, 2, 3, . . .

As n , the sequence zn 0. We will show that 0 is the only accumulation point

of S = {zn } by first showing that it is an accumulation point and then that there are
no others. First, fix any > 0 and consider B (0) = {z C : |z| < }. Notice that if
n > 1/, zn B (0) showing that 0 is an accumulation point.
Now let w be any nonzero complex number. Let = |w0|
2 . Since B (0) contains all
1
zn with n > and B (0) and B (w) are disjoint, B (w) contains none of the zn with
n > 1 . Let = min(, |w z1 |, |w z2 |, . . . , |w zn1 |). Then B (w) \ {w} is a deleted
neighborhood of w containing none of the zn showing that w is not an accumulation
point.
3

(c) S = {z C : 0 arg z < /2, z 6= 0}

This set is the first quadrant including the positive x-axis and not including 0 and the
positive y-axis. Clearly every point of S is an accumulation point. Then by observing
that any neighborhood of 0 or any point on the positive y-axis also contains an element
of S, we see that the set of all accumulation points is
{z C : 0 arg z /2, z 6= 0} {0} = {z C : Re z 0, Im z 0}.
(d) zn = (1)n (1 + i) n1
n , n = 1, 2, 3, . . .
Letting un = z2n and vn = z2n1 , n = 1, 2, 3, ... we see that this sequence is really two
subsequences un 1 + i and vn 1 i. Arguing as in (b), we can show that each
of these points is an accumulation point of {zn }, and similarly we can show that these
are the only accumulation points.