Cookbooks
Elm
Chapter 3. Numbers
Working with complex numbers

Elm:
Working with complex numbers

How to:

Elm doesn’t have built-in complex number support, so you’ll create your own type and functions. Here’s a quick setup:

type alias Complex =
    { real : Float, imaginary : Float }

add : Complex -> Complex -> Complex
add a b =
    { real = a.real + b.real, imaginary = a.imaginary + b.imaginary }

-- Example usage:
a = { real = 3, imaginary = 2 }
b = { real = 1, imaginary = -4 }

sum = add a b
-- sum is { real = 4.0, imaginary = -2.0 }

Deep Dive

Historically, complex numbers weren’t always accepted. They became a game-changer in the 16th century to solve cubic equations. Alternatives in other languages like Python offer built-in complex number support with operations right out of the box. Elm requires a DIY approach as you’ve seen. But you can make it as sophisticated as needed, building multiplication, division, and other ops, tuning performance issues.

See Also

  • Elm’s Official Documentation: https://package.elm-lang.org/ for creating custom types and mastering Elm basics.
  • Math history buffs could check out “An Imaginary Tale” by Paul J. Nahin for a complex numbers’ journey through time.
  • Dive into math-oriented programming challenges on Project Euler (https://projecteuler.net) to apply your complex number wizardry.
Rounding numbers