In one of our recent articles a question was asked regarding the practical use of real & imaginary type plots compared with modulus & phase type plots.
In general, noise or vibration signals are composed of one or more sinusoidal signals which can be quantified in terms of their magnitude (modulus) and phase components. These can be visualised as the result of a spectral transformation in the form of either a real & imaginary plot or a modulus & phase plot. The moduli & phases are directly related to the real & imaginary components. Real & imaginary is one way to visualise a complex number, modulus & phase is another way.
