Complex Number Argument

The argument is an angle $ \theta $ qualifying the complex number $ z $ in the complex plane is noted arg or Arg:

$ \arg(z) = 2\arctan \left( \frac{\Im(z)}{\Re(z) + |z|} \right) = \theta \mod 2\pi $

with $ \Re(z) $ the real part and $ \Im(z) $ the imaginary part of $ z $.

Example: Take $ z = 1+i $, the real part is $ 1 $, the imaginary part is $ 1 $ and the modulus of the complex number $ |z| $ equals $ \sqrt(2) $, so $ \arg(z) = 2 \arctan \left( \frac{1}{1 + \sqrt(2) } \right) = \frac{\pi}{4} $

The result of the $ \arg(z) $ calculation is a value between $ -\pi $ and $ +\pi $ and the theta value is modulo $ 2\pi $

In electricity, the argument is equivalent to the phase (and the module is the effective value).

Take $ z $, $ z_1 $ and $ z_2 $ be non-zero complex numbers and $ n $ is a natural integer. The remarkable properties of the argument function are:

$ \arg( z_1 \times z_2 ) \equiv \arg(z_1) + \arg(z_2) \mod 2\pi $

$ \arg( z^n ) \equiv n \times \arg(z) \mod 2\pi $

$ \arg( \frac{1}{z} ) \equiv -\arg(z) \mod 2\pi $

$ \arg( \frac{z_1}{z_2} ) \equiv \arg(z_1) - \arg(z_2) \mod 2\pi $

If $ a $ is a strictly positive real and $ b $ a strictly negative real, then

$ \arg(a \cdot z) \equiv \arg(z) \mod 2\pi $

$ \arg(b \cdot z) \equiv \arg(z) +\pi \mod 2\pi $

The argument of $ 0 $ is $ 0 $ (the number 0 has a real and complex part of zero and therefore a null argument).

If the argument of a complex number is $ \arg(z) = 0 $ then the number has no imaginary part (it is a real number).

The argument is an angle, usually in radians. The angles repeat every $ 2 \pi $ so there is an infinite number of them.

The principal/main argument is the one between $ - \pi $ and $ \pi $ (but sometimes some consider it to be the one between $ 0 $ and $ 2 \pi $)