Splash Biography

Often relegated to a secondary role in the standard mathematics curriculum, complex numbers are usually unfortunately presented as a contrived abstraction used to solve certain equations. In this session, we want to show that, ironically, these 'imaginary' entities are some of the most useful and insightful mathematical and physical (!) objects we have today. This whirlwind tour will guide learners through the motivations of complex numbers, the rigorous (and magical) field of complex analysis, as well as the essential use of these ideas in physics, namely quantum mechanics and theoretical particle physics.