Adding complex numbers is two sums side by side: the real parts, then the imaginary ones. These free printable worksheets stay on that first step, before multiplication and i² enter the picture.
If they get stuck
The answer key prints on a separate page.
The idea to get across is that the two parts never mix. Three of i plus two of i is five of i, the way three apples and two apples are five apples, and that is all a student needs to stop trying to combine 3 and 2i. Subtracting asks one thing more, which is to take the minus through both parts of the second bracket.
Sometimes the imaginary parts cancel. (2 − 2i) + (4 + 2i) is 6, a plain real number, and a student can be thrown by an answer with no i in it. That result is correct and worth pointing out: real numbers are the complex numbers whose imaginary part is zero.
(2 − 2i) + (4 + 2i)