Question Corner and Discussion Area
I am interested in knowing what i to the power of i is.The first question to address is what it means to raise one complex number to the power of another. There is a basic definition of what it means to raise e to a complex power, as described in the answer to an earlier question. Therefore, if z is any complex number for which
What are the possible values for z? Well, if we write z = a + bi,
then . By
de Moivre's theorem (explained in the answer to an earlier question),
, so
. This expression equals i
exactly when a=0, cos(b)=0, and sin(b)=1. This occurs when
for some integer n, so the possible values of
z are
.
Therefore, the values of are
for any integer n.
Note that there is more than one value
for , just as 2 and -2 are both square roots of 4.
(However, while the square roots of a number always have the same
magnitude even if they differ in sign, the values of
have
different magnitudes).
The
principal value of
would be
--the case where
n=0.
It's also interesting to note that all these values of are
real numbers.
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