Imaginary Unit

⸺ by Charles Iliya Krempeaux

In , the imaginary unit is denoted by i, and is defined as —

i = √-1

operator j

With imaginary numbers, the of negative one is usually denoted as i. I.e., —

i = √-1

This creates a problem if you are dealing with — where i (and I) is commonly used to denote .

In this situation j (rather than i) is used to denote the . I.e., —

i = √-1

This is often called operator j.

This should not be confused with the use of j from s. They are not the same.

See Also