Maybe a picture and a little bit about Abraham de Moivre. So few students today no anything about the history of math, the stories, the people.
]]>I've had a 'google' and the points are just about even between the two versions. I found two 'histories of' and the score there was 1:1. So I'm with you on this. You can't go wrong if you follow the advice of Lewis Carroll:
When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean neither more nor less.
Bob
]]>That page looks great to me.
When I was taught de Moivre it had the r. It's more useful like that and it's easy to 'drop' the r if desired, so I would keep it as you have written it.
Bob
]]>Has "r": http://faculty.uml.edu/klevasseur/math/demoivre/demoivre.html
No "r": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Moivre%27s_formula
Eeek
]]>Abraham de Moivre, if only he had stuck to generating functions...
That is de Moivre's formula as I know it. Wikipedia has it that way too. What references do not?
For any integer n is okay. There are multiple values for non integers.
It looks good to me.
]]>It would be really nice if everyone could check it for errors ... or simply make suggestions.
There seems to be disagreement on which form is the real De Moivre (with or without r): which is right for you? Have I got it correct?
I also say "for any integer exponent n": thoughts?
]]>The new page would be "Complex Number Multiplication" ... it will need a quick intro to complex numbers, a quick intro the complex plane ... and I cover (a+bi)(c+di) multiplication on the Complex Number page, so I should bring that in as well ... eeek.
Well I will get started on rehashing and see where it takes me.
]]>The page is good and the explanations work well. Ideally, a student who is new to this should read the complex number page first; but may stumble on this one first.
Suggestion:
Keep the existing complex number page (1) as it is but add links to the complex plane page (2) and a 'Multiplying by i' page (3).
Edit the complex plane page (2) so that immediately after this (It is also called an "Argand Diagram") you have a note that advises the reader to look at (1) first. Then take everything from Multiplying By i onward to a new page (3)
Bob
]]>That would work.
]]>I do think it needs to be split into a couple of pages.
I think so too ... maybe move all the multiplication sections?
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