Sigma Percentile
JEE Main 2019 (9 January)
LEVELJEE Main

Animated Solution for Mathematics - Complex Numbers: Let be a root of the quadratic equation, . If , then is equal to:

Select Answer:

Visualized Solution

Analyze the Quadratic Equation

  • Given equation:

Roots of the Equation

  • The roots are the non-real cube roots of unity: and .
  • So, or .

Property of

  • Property of cube roots of unity:
  • Any power .

Evaluate

  • Evaluating :
  • Since ,

Evaluate

  • Evaluating :
  • Since ,

Substitute into

  • Given:
  • Substitute the values:

Simplify

Formula for Argument

  • For in the first quadrant:

Calculate

  • Here, and .

Final Answer

  • Therefore,

The Sigma Insight: Cube Roots and nth Roots of Unity

Solution Diagram

Analyzing the Setup

When you encounter the quadratic equation , pause and recognize it as the signature of the cube roots of unity. This equation serves as a gateway to a world where numbers rotate and dance on the complex plane.
The roots of this equation are the non-real cube roots of unity, denoted as and . The most fundamental property of these roots is that .

The Power of Three

This property acts as our master key. Whenever you encounter a high power of , you are essentially looking at a cycle of three; if the exponent is a multiple of 3, the result is simply 1.
Consider the expression:
We must evaluate and . Since , we have:
Similarly, since , we find:
The complex powers vanish, leaving us with a simplified expression.

The Geometric Reality

Substitute these values back into the equation for :
This simplifies to:
Imagine this point on the complex plane. You move 3 units along the real axis and 3 units up the imaginary axis, placing you in the first quadrant at coordinates . This represents a vector pointing exactly at a 45-degree angle.

The Final Calculation

To find the argument, we use the standard formula for a complex number located in the first quadrant:
Given and , we calculate:
We know that the angle whose tangent is 1 is . Thus, the final argument is:
We started with a complex-looking expression and, by understanding the underlying structure of the roots of unity, we arrived at a simple, elegant result. Keep this perspective, and no complex number problem will ever intimidate you again.

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