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Remove Imaginary Component from a Complex Number 1

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dik

Structural
Apr 13, 2001
26,049
I've tried multiplying with the conjugate and ended up with a 'tiny' complex component. Does anyone know how to remove the imaginary component from a complex number. I'm using SMath.

Dik
Wind-Change_Return_Period_f9iwhu.png


Thanks

Dik
 
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Thanks Dave... I found it in one of the articles.

Dik
 
Smath is doing something weird - I can replicate your result using Smath, but the same expressions entered into Mathcad Prime work fine.

Drilling down, it is apparent that the complex number is generated by the last term:

[tt]ln(-0.0339/(ln(1-1/n)))[/tt]

Checking the parameters shows that this should yield a real result, but for some reason it throws a complex result.

Bizarrely, if I do simple evaluation of this term, Smath gives a real solution; entering:

[tt]ln(-0.0339/(ln(0.8))) =[/tt]

yields the expected result: [tt]-1.8844[/tt]

However, saving this same expression into a variable, and then outputting the saved result, yields a complex result:

[tt]test := ln(-0.0339/(ln(0.8)))
test =[/tt]

yields a complex solution: [tt]-1.8844 + 3.1416 i[/tt]

Why this is so, I don't have a clue. However, "[tt]3.1416 i[/tt]" looks suspiciously like "[tt]pi i[/tt]", which is surely not a coincidence. I would guess it's some sort of glitch with storing the results of the log of a negative number divided by another negative number.

Hope this might help a little.




 
IRS:
I'll check. I thought I was running the latest version.

Dik
 
Well, that was weird. it turns out that my bad habit of using the immediate evaluation changed the outcome. I posted it as a bug in their bug tracker. Not sure how long it takes to get resolved; it looks like they've got a pretty long list

pg1a_hsxcif.png


TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list
 
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