Law of Cosines for C .... Remmert Section 1.3, Ch. 0 ....

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The discussion centers on the derivation of the Law of Cosines for complex numbers as presented in Reinhold Remmert's "Theory of Complex Functions," specifically in Chapter 0, Section 1.3. The key focus is on the application of the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality, which establishes that for any complex numbers \( w \) and \( z \), the inequality \( -1 \le \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ |w| |z| } \le 1 \) holds. This leads to the conclusion that there exists a unique angle \( \phi \) in the range \( [0, \pi] \) such that \( \cos \phi = \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ |w| |z| } \), a result derived from fundamental calculus principles.

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  • Understanding of complex numbers and their properties
  • Familiarity with the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality
  • Knowledge of scalar products in vector spaces
  • Basic concepts of calculus, particularly regarding the cosine function
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I am reading Reinhold Remmert's book "Theory of Complex Functions" ...

I am focused on Chapter 0: Complex Numbers and Continuous Functions ... and in particular on Section 1.3: Scalar Product and Absolute Value ... ...

I need help in order to fully understand Remmert's derivation of the Law of Cosines for $$\mathbb{C}$$

The relevant part of Remmert's section on Scalar Product and Absolute Value reads as follows:View attachment 8548In the above text from Remmert we read the following:

" ... ... From the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality it follows that

$$-1 \le \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ \mid w \mid \mid z \mid } \le 1 $$ for all $$w,z \in \mathbb{C}^{ \times } $$According to (non-trivial) results of calculus, for each $$w,z \in \mathbb{C}^{ \times }$$ therefore a unique real number $$\phi$$ with $$0 \le \phi \le \pi$$, exists satisfying $$\text{ cos } \phi = \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ \mid w \mid \mid z \mid }$$ ... ... "
Can someone please demonstrate formally and rigorously exactly how ...

$$-1 \le \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ \mid w \mid \mid z \mid } \le 1 $$

implies

$$\text{ cos } \phi = \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ \mid w \mid \mid z \mid }$$ ... ...
Help will be appreciated ...

Peter========================================================================================It may help MHB readers of the above post to have access to the start of Remmert's Section 1.3 as it will help with the context and notation of the post ... so I am providing access to the same ... as follows:View attachment 8549Hope that helps ...

Peter
 

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Peter said:
In the above text from Remmert we read the following:

" ... ... From the Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality it follows that

$$-1 \le \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ \mid w \mid \mid z \mid } \le 1 $$ for all $$w,z \in \mathbb{C}^{ \times } $$

According to (non-trivial) results of calculus, for each $$w,z \in \mathbb{C}^{ \times }$$ therefore a unique real number $$\phi$$ with $$0 \le \phi \le \pi$$, exists satisfying

$$\text{ cos } \phi = \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ \mid w \mid \mid z \mid }$$ ... ... "

Can someone please demonstrate formally and rigorously exactly how ...

$$-1 \le \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ \mid w \mid \mid z \mid } \le 1 $$

implies

$$\text{ cos } \phi = \frac{ \langle w, z \rangle }{ \mid w \mid \mid z \mid }$$ ... ...
On the interval $[0,\pi]$, $\cos\phi$ is a strictly decreasing function. As $\phi$ goes from $0$ to $\pi$, $\cos\phi$ decreases from $1$ to $-1$, taking each value between $1$ and $-1$ exactly once. Therefore, given a number $x$ with $-1\leqslant x\leqslant1$, there will be a unique $\phi\in [0,\pi]$ such that $\cos\phi = x$.

As Remmert indicates, that is a non-trivial result from calculus. To demonstrate it formally and rigorously would require going back through the whole development of real-variable analysis.
 

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