Concept understanding — Modulus and Argument of a Complex Number
For a complex number z=a+ib represented by the point P(a,b) in the Argand plane, the modulus ∣z∣=r=a2+b2 is the straight-line distance OP from the origin to P (found via Pythagoras on the right triangle formed by the point and the two axes), and the argument θ=arg(z) is the angle that OP makes with the positive real axis, satisfying cosθ=a/r, sinθ=b/r, and tanθ=b/a when a=0. Because the inverse tangent function alone only ever returns an angle in (−π/2,π/2), it cannot on its own distinguish a point in quadrant I from one in quadrant III (or quadrant II from quadrant IV), so finding the argument in the standard range 0≤θ<2π requires checking which quadrant (or axis) the point (a,b) actually lies in and adding the appropriate correction: no correction in quadrant I, +π in quadrants II and III, and +2π in quadrant IV. The modulus obeys clean multiplicative rules — ∣z1z2∣=∣z1∣∣z2∣, z2z1=∣z2∣∣z1∣, and zzˉ=∣z∣2 — together with the triangle inequality ∣z1+z2∣≤∣z1∣+∣z2∣, while the argument obeys additive rules — arg(z1z2)=argz1+argz2 and arg(z1/z2)=argz1−argz2 — which together are the algebraic seeds of De Moivre's theorem.
For z=7−5i: a=7,b=−5. Modulus: ∣z∣=72+(−5)2=49+25=74. Since a>0,b<0, the point is in Quadrant IV, so argz=tan−1(ab)+2π=tan−1(−75)+2π=2π−tan−175 (in the standard range 0≤θ<2π).\n> [!ANSWER] ∣z∣=74, argz=2π−tan−175.
Compute ∣z∣=a2+b2; locate the quadrant from the signs of a,b and apply the matching correction to tan−1(b/a).
Leaving the argument as the raw negative value from tan−1(−5/7) instead of adding 2π per the quadrant-IV convention