How to Use complex number in a Sentence

complex number

noun
  • The result is a snappy and complex number that seems anything but ad hoc.
    — Rand Richards Cooper, courant.com, 15 Nov. 2019
  • There’s one exception — when the problem is defined in terms of complex numbers.
    — Joseph Howlett, Quanta Magazine, 26 Sep. 2025
  • The latter two numbers, each of which has both a real part and an imaginary part in the form a + ib, came to be called complex numbers.
    — Daniel Garisto, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Her joyous and complicated routine split the judges – some felt the timing fell off during the complex numbers.
    — Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY, 12 Nov. 2019
  • Any complex number can therefore be represented as a point in a two-dimensional plane.
    — Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta Magazine, 21 Sep. 2023
  • As a result, mathematicians often turn to the complex numbers, which can be thought of as pairs of real numbers.
    — Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta Magazine, 21 Sep. 2023
  • The most common version of quantum theory relies on complex numbers.
    — Marc-Olivier Renou, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Each complex number is an arrow, called a vector, pointing from the origin to the complex coordinate (a, b).
    — Daniel Garisto, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Even those who emancipated the theory from complex numbers admit that the latter are a natural fit.
    — Daniel Garisto, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Our February Insights puzzle sent readers on a treasure hunt based on complex numbers.
    — Quanta Magazine, 22 Mar. 2019
  • Infinite-Degree Maps Start with a function, or f, defined in terms of a complex number, or z.
    — Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 24 Apr. 2021
  • Beneath Jones’ balancing act is a complex numbers game that has vexed Alabama Democrats for decades.
    — Kim Chandler, The Seattle Times, 9 Dec. 2017
  • There are also what are known as imaginary numbers like i, which is the square root of –1, and complex numbers, which are sums of real and imaginary numbers.
    — Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
  • In other words, the vast majority of real and complex numbers are transcendental.
    — Quanta Magazine, 27 June 2023
  • Naturally enough, the two qubits can be described by a quantum-mechanical wave function that involves four complex numbers.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 15 Nov. 2018
  • Those who need only a computer and an internet connection to run simulations or crunch complex numbers continued their work from home.
    — Los Angeles Times, 29 Apr. 2020
  • Also, twistor space seems to play a key role, and on the twistor side everything is described by calculus with complex numbers, which is one of the most beautiful parts of mathematics.
    — Quanta Magazine, 25 Sep. 2024
  • And that function involves two complex numbers, α and β (called quantum amplitudes), which, being complex numbers, have real parts and imaginary parts.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 15 Nov. 2018
  • Because a curve is a one-dimensional object that is defined in terms of complex numbers, each of its points can also be written as a pair of real numbers, rather than one complex number.
    — Jordana Cepelewicz, Quanta Magazine, 25 Aug. 2022
  • The idea of what are known as complex numbers — a set of numbers larger than what most people encounter in math class — is even older, although for centuries even mathematicians did not know what to make of them.
    — Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 24 Oct. 2023
  • Descartes viewed them with derision, but complex numbers were later adopted for their utility in fields as diverse as geometry, optics and signal analysis.
    — Daniel Garisto, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Beneath Jones’ biracial and bipartisan balancing act is a complex numbers game that has vexed Alabama Democrats for decades.
    — Washington Post, 10 Dec. 2017
  • Physical properties, such as the speed of a particle or its position, correspond to tables of complex numbers called operators.
    — Marc-Olivier Renou, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2023
  • This changed once Gauss brought reciprocity into the realm of complex numbers, which add the square root of minus 1, represented by i, to ordinary numbers.
    — Quanta Magazine, 1 Nov. 2023
  • One way to represent a complex number like a + ib is as a point on a plane, where a is the position on the x-axis (which can be thought of as the real number line) and b is the position on an imaginary y-axis.
    — Daniel Garisto, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Even mathematical giants found complex numbers difficult to swallow.
    — William Ross, The Conversation, 10 Mar. 2025
  • For some equations with singularities — points where the answers turn into infinity — looking at the nearby behavior with complex numbers can sometimes provide insight.
    — Kenneth Chang, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
  • So if a proof requires an intermediate step in which, for example, there are complex numbers that may contain square roots of negative values, programming languages specialized for geometry cannot be used.
    — Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 17 Jan. 2024
  • Before the 20th century all such operations with complex numbers were simply considered a mathematical trick.
    — Marc-Olivier Renou, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Many complex numbers are the root of some polynomial with integer coefficients; mathematicians call these numbers algebraic.
    — Quanta Magazine, 27 June 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'complex number.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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