Complex Numbers

I added the core of a unit on complex numbers to the Algebra 2 page.

Like some other materials I’ve written over the years for my students at the Urban School of SF, these lessons were inspired by the pioneering work of Stein, Crabill, and Chakerian (see their out-of-print Algebra II/Trig book.)

From the intro to the unit: “The worksheets are dense with ideas, and definitely need to be accompanied by substantial class discussion, teacher explanations, and additional practice and review. Nevertheless, they represent a coherent approach that makes pedagogical sense and helps review important skills.”

Part of the reason for posting this now is in preparation for my talk about my Space elective at the upcoming NCTM national meeting in DC. This approach to complex numbers lays the groundwork for using matrices to compute the results of various geometric transformations, which is a key component of the course.

See you in DC?

–Henri