Complex numbers combine under addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and conjugation using rules that extend ordinary real-number algebra, treating i as a symbol satisfying i2=−1. Addition and subtraction act componentwise: (a+ib)±(c+id)=(a±c)+i(b±d) — real parts combine with real parts, imaginary with imaginary. Scalar multiplication by a real k scales both parts: k(a+ib)=ka+i(kb). Multiplication expands like two binomials and then uses i2=−1 to collapse the i2 term: (a+ib)(c+id)=ac+adi+bci+bdi2=(ac−bd)+i(ad+bc). All four operations retain the familiar commutative, associative and identity properties from real-number arithmetic. The conjugate of z=a+ib is zˉ=a−ib — obtained by flipping only the sign of the imaginary part — and satisfies z=z, z=zˉ exactly when z is real, z=−zˉ exactly when z is purely imaginary, and the useful product identity $z …