Rectangular form z=x+iy is natural for addition/subtraction (just combine components), but multiplication, powers and roots are far easier in an alternate representation: polar form.
Polar coordinates. Superimposing polar coordinates (r,θ) — r the distance from the pole O, θ the angle from the initial line, measured counter-clockwise — onto the rectangular Argand plane gives
x=rcosθ,y=rsinθ,
so any nonzero z=x+iy can be written
z=rcosθ+irsinθ=r(cosθ+isinθ)=rcisθ.
Here r=∣z∣=x2+y2 is the modulus, and θ (found from tanθ=y/x, with the quadrant of z fixing which angle) is an argument of z, written argz. Since adding any multiple of 2π to θ gives the same point, argz has infinitely many values, all differing by 2kπ. The unique value with −π<θ≤π is the principal argument, Argz; every general argument is argz=Argz+2kπ,k∈Z. (For z=0, θ is undefined, so polar form always assumes z=0.) Conjugation flips the sign of the argument: if z has polar coordinates (r,θ), z has (r,−θ).
Argument properties (mirroring the modulus properties): …