Imaginary Numbers in Python

John on March 23, 2022

An imaginary or complex number is a real number multiplied by an imaginary unit. This tutorial will cover how to use imaginary numbers in Python.

Create a Complex Number in Python

To initialise a complex number in Python, assign the real and the imaginary components to a variable. Python will automatically set the datatype to "complex" format the number accordingly:

n = 7 + 6j
print(type(n))
print(n)

<class 'complex'>
(7+6j)

Another option is to use the native Python complex() function, which converts two real numbers into an imaginary number.

n = complex(7, 6)
print(type(n))
print(n)

<class 'complex'>
(7+6j)

Accessing Complex Numbers in Python

To access the real component of a complex number use the .real accessor like this:

n = complex(7, 6)
print('Real part: ', n.real)

Real part:  7.0

To get the imaginary part use the .imag accessor:

print('Imaginary part: ', n.imag)

Imaginary part:  6.0

To conjugate the number, use the .conjugate() method like this:

print('Conjugate: ', n.conjugate())

Conjugate:  (7-6j)