Definition of the imaginary part of a vector in C^n
Created almost 9 years ago, updated 5 months ago
ID23790
Definition: The imaginary part of a vector (\mathbf{z} = (z_1, z_2, \ldots, z_n) \in \mathbb{C}^n) is the vector in (\mathbb{R}^n) obtained by taking the imaginary part of each component:
**Definition:** The *imaginary part* of a vector \(\mathbf{z} = (z_1, z_2, \ldots, z_n) \in \mathbb{C}^n\) is the vector in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) obtained by taking the imaginary part of each component:
\[\text{Im}(\mathbf{z}) = (\text{Im}(z_1), \text{Im}(z_2), \ldots, \text{Im}(z_n))\]
where \(\text{Im}(a + bi) = b\) (the imaginary part is a **real** number, not \(bi\)).
**Alternative formula:** \(\text{Im}(\mathbf{z}) = \frac{\mathbf{z} - \overline{\mathbf{z}}}{2i}\)
**Examples:**
- \(\mathbf{z} = (1+i, 2-i, 3)\) → \(\text{Im}(\mathbf{z}) = (1, -1, 0)\)
- \(\mathbf{w} = (i, -2+3i, 5)\) → \(\text{Im}(\mathbf{w}) = (1, 3, 0)\)
**Decomposition:** Any \(\mathbf{z} \in \mathbb{C}^n\) can be written as:
\[\mathbf{z} = \text{Re}(\mathbf{z}) + i \cdot \text{Im}(\mathbf{z})\]
Note that \(\text{Re}(\mathbf{z}), \text{Im}(\mathbf{z}) \in \mathbb{R}^n\).