Math Help - Squaring Complex numbers

Hey,

I'm not sure if i'm porting this thread under the right topic, but i just have a quick question about complex numbers.

when you square a complex number (eg. z^2; where z=2+4i) can you just solve this by going z*z???

Thanks,
Function

Originally Posted by function

Hey,

I'm not sure if i'm porting this thread under the right topic, but i just have a quick question about complex numbers.

when you square a complex number (eg. z^2; where z=2+4i) can you just solve this by going z*z???

Thanks,
Function

Yes you can.

Perhaps function was thinking of |z| which, for a complex number, is where z* is the complex conjugate of z. For a real number, x, that would be the same as , but not for a non-real complex number.