Complex question?

Algebra Level 4

Find the number of values of z z that satisfy the equation z 2 + z = 0 z^2 + |z| = 0 .


The answer is 3.

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4 solutions

Tom Van Lier
Feb 24, 2016

Let z = x + i y z = x + iy with x , y R x,y \in \mathbb{R} , then

( x + i y ) 2 + x 2 + y 2 = 0 (x + iy)^2 + \sqrt{x^2 + y^2} = 0

x 2 y 2 + 2 x y i = x 2 + y 2 x^2 - y^2 + 2xyi = - \sqrt{x^2 + y^2}

Comparing imaginary and real parts, we find that x = y = 0 is a solution or that either x = 0 or y = 0. The case in which y = 0 gets excluded, because the left hand side would be strictly positive ( x 2 ) (x^2) , while the right hand side ( x 2 ) (-\sqrt{x^2}) would be strictly negative. (Note that the only solution ( x = y = 0 ) (x= y = 0) is already found by other reasoning, math is extremely beautiful :-)).

We thus continue with x = 0 x= 0 and get:

y 2 = y 2 -y^2 = - \sqrt{y^2}

y 4 = y 2 y^4 = y^2

y 2 = 1 y^2 = 1

y = 1 1 y = 1 \vee -1 .

Hence we get three solutions ( 0 , i , i ) (0, i, -i) .

Rab Gani
Apr 25, 2018

Let z=re^(iθ), then r^2. e^(i2θ) + r = 0, then r.e^(i2θ) = -1 = e^i(π+2 πk), so θ= π/2 + πk, where
k= 0,1,2...,and r =1.So the the solutions are z=0,i,-i.

Deeparaj Bhat
Feb 23, 2016

Put z=x+iy. The given equation is then equivalent to xy=0 and x^2 + sqrt(x^2+y^2)=y^2. The only solutions are (x, y)=(0,0);(0,1);(0,-1)

@jaikirat sandhu , how is this level 4?

Jaikirat Sandhu
Feb 7, 2015

The complex nos. are 0, i, and -i

How do you know they're the only ones?

Josh Banister - 6 years, 4 months ago

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Hope this helps, Josh.

Let z = r exp(i x), which when substituted into the original equation above yields:

z^2 + |z| = r^2 * exp(i*2x) + r = 0 (i)

and factoring (i) gives:

r[r exp(i 2x) + 1] = 0,

or r * [(r cos(2x) + 1) + (r sin(2x))*i] = 0 + 0i (ii).

The complex number in (ii) is zero iff:

r = 0 => z = 0 + 0i

or r cos(2x) + 1 = 0 AND r sin(2x) = 0 simultaneously. This latter condition can only be satisfied for nonzero r =1 and x = (2k-1)*(pi/2) for any integer k, which yields z = i or -i as the only other results.

tom engelsman - 5 years, 5 months ago

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