Appendix A. The Arithmetic of Complex Numbers

To understand digital signal processing, we have to get comfortable using complex numbers. The first step toward this goal is learning to manipulate complex numbers arithmetically. Fortunately, we can take advantage of our knowledge of real numbers to make this job easier. Although the physical significance of complex numbers is discussed in Chapter 8, the following discussion provides the arithmetic rules governing complex numbers.

GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF REAL AND COMPLEX NUMBERS

To get started, real numbers are those positive or negative numbers we're used to thinking about in our daily lives. Examples of real numbers are 0.3, –2.2, 5.1, etc. Keeping this in mind, we see how a real number can be ...

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