1.0000 + 0.0000i
-0.5000 - 0.8660i
-0.5000 + 0.8660i
Displaying Roots in the Complex Plane
Include plots in the Live Editor so students can visualize important concepts.
We can visualize the roots in the complex plane to see their location.
range = 0:0.01:2*pi;
plot(cos(range),sin(range),'k')
% Plot the unit circle
axis square; box off
ax = gca;
ax.XAxisLocation = 'origin';
ax.YAxisLocation = 'origin';
hold on
plot(real(roots), imag(roots), 'ro')
% Plot the roots
Finding Higher Order Roots
To add supporting information, go to the Insert tab and click the Hyperlink and Image buttons.
Students can use supporting information to explore lecture topics outside of the classroom.
Once you get past n = 3, things get even trickier. For 4th roots we could use the quartic formula
discovered by Lodovico Ferrari in 1540. But this formula is long and unwieldy, and doesn't help us
find roots higher than 4. Luckily, there is a better way, thanks to a 17th century French
mathematician named Abraham de Moivre.
Create Interactive Course Materials Using the Live Editor
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