Euler's formula, named after Leonhard Euler, is a mathematical formula in complex analysis that

establishes the fundamental relationship between the trigonometric functions and

the complex exponential function. Euler's formula states that, for any real number x,

where e is the base of the natural logarithm, i is the imaginary unit, and cos and sin are
the trigonometric functions cosine and sine respectively, with the argument x given in radians. This
complex exponential function is sometimes denoted cis(x) ("cosine plus i sine"). The formula is still
valid if x is a complex number, and so some authors refer to the more general complex version as
Euler's formula.[1]
Euler's formula is ubiquitous in mathematics, physics, and engineering. The physicist Richard
Feynman called the equation "our jewel" and "the most remarkable formula in mathematics.

History[edit]
It was Johann Bernoulli who noted that[3]

And since

the above equation tells us something about complex logarithms. Bernoulli, however, did not
evaluate the integral.
Bernoulli's correspondence with Euler (who also knew the above equation) shows that Bernoulli did
not fully understand complex logarithms. Euler also suggested that the complex logarithms can have
infinitely many values.
Meanwhile, Roger Cotes, in 1714, discovered that

("ln" is the natural logarithm with base e).[4]

Cotes missed the fact that a complex logarithm can have infinitely many values, differing by
multiples of 2, due to the periodicity of the trigonometric functions.
Around 1740 Euler turned his attention to the exponential function instead of logarithms, and
obtained the formula used today that is named after him. It was published in 1748, obtained by
comparing the series expansions of the exponential and trigonometric expressions. [4]

None of these mathematicians saw the geometrical interpretation of the formula; the view of complex
numbers as points in the complex plane was described some 50 years later by Caspar Wessel.

Applications in complex number theory

This formula can be interpreted as saying that the function eix is a unit complex number, i.e., traces
out the unit circle in the complex planeas x ranges through the real numbers. Here, x is
the angle that a line connecting the origin with a point on the unit circle makes with the positive real
axis, measured counter clockwise and in radians.
The original proof is based on the Taylor series expansions of the exponential function ez (where z is
a complex number) and of sin x and cos x for real numbers x (see below). In fact, the same proof
shows that Euler's formula is even valid for all complex numbers x.
A point in the complex plane can be represented by a complex number written in cartesian
coordinates. Euler's formula provides a means of conversion between cartesian coordinates
and polar coordinates. The polar form simplifies the mathematics when used in multiplication or
powers of complex numbers. Any complex number
conjugate,

, and its complex

, can be written as

where
the real part
the imaginary part
the magnitude of z
atan2(y, x) .
is the argument of zi.e., the angle between the x axis and the vector z measured
counterclockwise and in radianswhich is defined up to addition of 2. Many texts write =
tan1(y/x) instead of = atan2(y,x), but the first equation needs adjustment when x 0. This is
because, for any real x, y not both zero, the angles of the vectors (x,y) and (-x,-y) differ by radians,
but have the identical value of tan() = y/x.
Now, taking this derived formula, we can use Euler's formula to define the logarithm of a complex
number. To do this, we also use the definition of the logarithm (as the inverse operator of
exponentiation) that

and that

both valid for any complex numbers a and b.

Therefore, one can write:

for any z 0. Taking the logarithm of both sides shows that:

and in fact this can be used as the definition for the complex logarithm. The logarithm of a complex
number is thus a multi-valued function, because

is multi-valued.

Finally, the other exponential law

which can be seen to hold for all integers k, together with Euler's formula, implies
several trigonometric identities as well as de Moivre's formula.

Relationship to trigonometry

Euler's formula provides a powerful connection between analysis and trigonometry, and provides an
interpretation of the sine and cosine functions as weighted sums of the exponential function:

The two equations above can be derived by adding or subtracting Euler's formulas:

and solving for either cosine or sine.

These formulas can even serve as the definition of the trigonometric functions for complex
arguments x. For example, letting x = iy, we have:

Complex exponentials can simplify trigonometry, because they are easier to manipulate than their
sinusoidal components. One technique is simply to convert sinusoids into equivalent expressions in
terms of exponentials. After the manipulations, the simplified result is still real-valued. For example:

Another technique is to represent the sinusoids in terms of the real part of a more complex
expression, and perform the manipulations on the complex expression. For example:

This formula is used for recursive generation of cos(nx) for integer values of n and arbitrary x (in
radians).

Topological interpretation[edit]
In the language of topology, Euler's formula states that the imaginary exponential function
is a (surjective) morphism of topological groups from the real line
exhibits
is

as a covering space of

, where

diagram below:

to the unit circle

. In fact, this

. Similarly, Euler's identity says that the kernel of this map

. These observations may be combined and summarized in the commutative

Other applications[edit]
In differential equations, the function eix is often used to simplify derivations, even if the final answer
is a real function involving sine and cosine. The reason for this is that the complex exponential is
the eigenfunction of differentiation. Euler's identity is an easy consequence of Euler's formula.
In electronic engineering and other fields, signals that vary periodically over time are often described
as a combination of sine and cosine functions (see Fourier analysis), and these are more
conveniently expressed as the real part of exponential functions with imaginary exponents, using
Euler's formula. Also, phasor analysis of circuits can include Euler's formula to represent the
impedance of a capacitor or an inductor.

Definitions of complex exponentiation[edit]

The exponential function ex for real values of x may be defined in a few different equivalent ways
(see Characterizations of the exponential function). Several of these methods may be directly
extended to give definitions of ez for complex values of z simply by substituting z in place of x and
using the complex algebraic operations. In particular we may use either of the two following
definitions which are equivalent. From a more advanced perspective, each of these definitions may
be interpreted as giving the unique analytic continuation of ex to the complex plane.

Power series definition[edit]

For complex z

Using the ratio test it is possible to show that this power series has an infinite radius of convergence,
and so defines ez for all complex z.

Limit definition[edit]
For complex z

Proofs[edit]
Various proofs of the formula are possible.

Using power series[edit]

Here is a proof of Euler's formula using power series expansions as well as basic facts about the
powers of i:[5]

and so on. Using now the power series definition from above we see that for real values of x

In the last step we have simply recognized the Maclaurin series for cos(x) and sin(x). The
rearrangement of terms is justified because each series is absolutely convergent.

An alternative proof[6] is based on the limit definition of

.
, and let n be a very large integer, say 1000. Then, based on the limit definition,

Substitute

the complex number (1+ix/1000)1000 is supposed to be a good approximation to eix. So, what is the
value of (1+ix/1000)1000?
Consider the sequence of 1000 complex numbers:

(We started with 1, and successively multiplied it by (1+ix/1000), 1000 times.) If the points of this
sequence are plotted in the complex plane(see animation at right), they approximately trace out
the unit circle, with each point being x/1000 radians counterclockwise of the previous point. (The
proof of this is based on the rules of trigonometry and complex-number algebra. [6]) Therefore, the last
point in the sequence,(1

+ ix/1000)1000, is approximately the point on the unit circle of the complex

plane located x radians counterclockwise from +1, that is the point cos x + i sin x. If we replaced
the number 1000 by larger and larger numbers, all of the approximations in this paragraph become
more and more accurate. Therefore,

eix = cos x + i sin x.

Using calculus[edit]
Another proof[7] is based on the fact that all complex numbers can be expressed in polar coordinates.
Therefore for some

and

depending on

Now from any of the definitions of the exponential function it can be shown that the derivative of
is

. Therefore differentiating both sides gives

Substituting

for

gives

and

from

this gives

formula

and equating real and imaginary parts in this formula

. Together with the initial values

and

. This proves the

.

and

which come