What is "complex analysis"

n. (context mathematics English) The branch of mathematics that studies holomorphic functions.

Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates functions of complex numbers. It is useful in many branches of mathematics, including algebraic geometry, number theory, analytic combinatorics, applied mathematics; as well as in physics, including hydrodynamics and thermodynamics and also in engineering fields such as nuclear, aerospace, mechanical and electrical engineering.

Complex analysis is particularly concerned with analytic functions of complex variables (or, more generally, meromorphic functions). Because the separate real and imaginary parts of any analytic function must satisfy Laplace's equation, complex analysis is widely applicable to two-dimensional problems in physics.