Complex Numbers: An Alternative Teaching Method
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Abstract
This article presents an alternative teaching method for the complex numbers, which is different from the existing method of teaching this subject for the 5-unit specialization in mathematics in high school. According to this new method, each complex number is considered a vector in the plane; and for each operation such as addition, absolute value, multiplication and adjoint, there is a geometric concept. According to the existing method, the complex number is composed of two parts: one is a real number and the second is an imaginary one.
Despite the teacher’s insistence, in the past, that negative numbers have no square root, he requires his students to accept this matter.
In my opinion, this method of teaching shows the students that mathematics run in imaginary routes far away from reality. This does not encourage students to continue to study the subject.
In addition, the students’ acceptance of the teacher’s statement without any discussion is an indicator to the algorithmic method of teaching.
The teacher hurries to define the operations and how to carry them out; and the students start to do so immediately thereafter.
The motives to write this article were mentioned hoping to motivate teachers to use this method.