Extended complex plane
The complex  $  z $-
plane  $  \mathbf C $
compactified by adding the point  $  \infty $
at infinity and written as  $  \overline{\mathbf C}\; $. 
The exterior of any circle in  $  \mathbf C $, 
that, is, any set of the form  $  \{ \infty \} \cup \{ {z \in \mathbf C } : {| z - z _ {0} | > R } \} $, 
$  R \geq  0 $, 
becomes a neighbourhood of  $  \infty $. 
The extended complex plane is the Aleksandrov compactification of the plane  $  \mathbf C $, 
and is both homeomorphic and conformally equivalent to the Riemann sphere. The spherical, or chordal, metric on  $  \overline{\mathbf C}\; $
is given by
$$ \rho ( z, w) = \ \frac{2 | z - w | }{\sqrt {1 + | z | ^ {2} } \sqrt {1 + | w | ^ {2} } } ,\ \ z, w \in \mathbf C , $$
$$ \rho ( z, \infty ) = { \frac{2}{\sqrt {1 + | z | ^ {2} } } } . $$
References
| [1] | A.I. Markushevich, "Theory of functions of a complex variable" , 1–2 , Chelsea (1977) (Translated from Russian) | 
| [2] | B.V. Shabat, "Introduction of complex analysis" , 1–2 , Moscow (1976) (In Russian) | 
Comments
References
| [a1] | J.B. Conway, "Functions of one complex variable" , Springer (1978) | 
Extended complex plane. Encyclopedia of Mathematics. URL: http://encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php?title=Extended_complex_plane&oldid=46878