Euler's identity
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- For other meanings, see Euler function (disambiguation)
In mathematical analysis, Euler's identity, named after Leonhard Euler, is the equation
where
is Euler's number, the base of the natural logarithm,
is the imaginary unit, one of the two complex numbers whose square is negative one (the other is 
), and
is Pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
Euler's identity is also sometimes called "Euler's equation".
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Derivation
The identity is a special case of Euler's formula from complex analysis, which states that
for any real number x. In particular, if 
, then
-
.
Since
and
,
it follows that
which gives the identity.
Perceptions of the identity
Euler's identity is remarkable for its mathematical beauty. Three basic arithmetic functions are present exactly once: addition, multiplication, and exponentiation. As well, the identity links five fundamental mathematical constants:
- The number 0.
- The number 1.
- The number π is ubiquitous in trigonometry, Euclidean geometry, and mathematical analysis.
- The number e occurs widely in mathematical analysis.
- The number i generates the complex numbers, which contain the roots of all nonconstant polynomials and leads to deeper insights into many operators, such as integration.
Furthermore, in mathematical analysis, equations are commonly written with zero on one side.
Constance Reid even claimed that Euler's identity was "the most famous formula in all mathemetics".
After proving the identity in a lecture, Benjamin Peirce, a noted nineteenth century mathematician and Harvard professor, said, "It is absolutely paradoxical; we cannot understand it, and we don't know what it means, but we have proved it, and therefore we know it must be the truth."1
A reader poll conducted by Physics World in 2004 named Euler's identity the "greatest equation ever" next to Maxwell's equations.
Notes
Template:Ent Maor p. 160 and Kasner and Newman p.103
References
- E. Kasner and J. Newman, Mathematics and the imagination (Bell and Sons, 1949) pp. 103–104
- Maor, Eli, e: The Story of a number (Princeton University Press, 1998), ISBN 0691058547
- Reid, Constance, From Zero to Infinity (Mathematical Association of America, various editions).
- Crease, Robert P., "The greatest equations ever", PhysicsWeb, October 2004
