Jean Robert Argand
Quick Summary
Jean Robert Argand was a Swiss mathematician who, around 1806, devised the Argand diagram. This diagram is a graphical method for representing complex numbers, which are numbers of the form x + yi, where x and y are real numbers and i is the square root of -1.1
The Argand diagram uses two axes: one for the real numbers (x-values) and one for the imaginary numbers (yi-values). This allows complex numbers to be plotted as points on a plane, providing a geometric interpretation that helped solidify the understanding and acceptance of complex numbers among mathematicians. A similar representation was independently developed by Caspar Wessel in 1797, but Argand's work became more widely known.12
Ask Britannica AI about this topic
Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.
