Question

How do you simplify `(-3+i) + (4+6i)`?

Answer 1

You can just 'add like terms': pull together the real numbers and the imaginary numbers. `(-3+i)+(4+6i)=(-3+4)+(i+6i)=(1+7i)`

Explanation:

Numbers that include `i`, the symbol for `sqrt(-1)`, are called 'imaginary numbers'. We can't add them to 'real numbers', but we can add them to each other.

In this case we can rearrange to pull together the two real numbers, -3 and 4, and the two imaginary numbers, `i` and `6i`, and then add up each set of numbers.