The Road to Reality Study Notes: Difference between revisions
→Chapter 4
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Penrose introduced the complex numbers, extending addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of the reals to the system obtained by adjoining i, the square root of -1. Polynomial equations can be solved by complex numbers, this property is called ''algebraic closure'' and follows from the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. Complex numbers can be visualized graphically as a plane, where the horizontal coordinate gives the real coordinate of the number and the vertical coordinate gives the imaginary part. This helps understand the behavior of power series; for example, the power series | Penrose introduced the complex numbers, extending addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of the reals to the system obtained by adjoining i, the square root of -1. Polynomial equations can be solved by complex numbers, this property is called ''algebraic closure'' and follows from the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. Complex numbers can be visualized graphically as a plane, where the horizontal coordinate gives the real coordinate of the number and the vertical coordinate gives the imaginary part. This helps understand the behavior of power series; for example, the power series | ||
$$1-x^2+x^4+\cdots$$ | $$1-x^2+x^4+\cdots$$ | ||
converges to the function $1/(1+x²)$ only when $|x|<1$, despite the fact that the function doesn't seem to have "singular" behavior anywhere on the real line. This is explained by singularities at $x=i,-i$. | converges to the function $$1/(1+x²)$$ only when $$|x|<1$$, despite the fact that the function doesn't seem to have "singular" behavior anywhere on the real line. This is explained by singularities at $$x=i,-i$$. | ||
Finally, the Mandelbrot set is defined as the set of all points c in the complex plane so that repeated applications of the transformation mapping $z$ to $z^2+c$, starting with $z=0$, do not escape to infinity. | Finally, the Mandelbrot set is defined as the set of all points $$c$$ in the complex plane so that repeated applications of the transformation mapping $z$ to $$z^2+c$$, starting with $$z=0$$, do not escape to infinity. | ||
== Chapter 5 == | == Chapter 5 == | ||