Complex Slide Rule

magnetic grid

for

multiplication

division

This Demonstration uses two logarithmic grids to compute the product of two complex numbers, which is analogous to the way a slide rule uses two logarithmic scales. Move the point with the double blue circles to set the value of the first factor

z

. Move the point with the purplish circle to set the value of the second factor

w

. The second point has two values corresponding to it. Its value on the purplish grid is

w

and its value on the blue grid is the product

z×w

. Values are displayed near the points in their respective colors. You can also treat the double-circled point as the quotient of the values of the single-circled point on the grids, the blue divided by the purple.