How to: Use Operator Overloading to Create a Complex Number Class (C# Programming Guide) 

This example shows how you can use operator overloading to create a complex number class Complex that defines complex addition. The program displays the imaginary and the real parts of the numbers and the addition result using an override of the ToString method.

Example

public struct Complex
{
    public int real;
    public int imaginary;

    public Complex(int real, int imaginary)  //constructor
    {
        this.real = real;
        this.imaginary = imaginary;
    }

    // Declare which operator to overload (+),
    // the types that can be added (two Complex objects),
    // and the return type (Complex):
    public static Complex operator +(Complex c1, Complex c2)
    {
        return new Complex(c1.real + c2.real, c1.imaginary + c2.imaginary);
    }

    // Override the ToString() method to display a complex number in the traditional format:
    public override string ToString()
    {
        return (System.String.Format("{0} + {1}i", real, imaginary));
    }
}

class TestComplex
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Complex num1 = new Complex(2, 3);
        Complex num2 = new Complex(3, 4);

        // Add two Complex objects through the overloaded plus operator:
        Complex sum = num1 + num2;

        // Print the numbers and the sum using the overriden ToString method:
        System.Console.WriteLine("First complex number:  {0}", num1);
        System.Console.WriteLine("Second complex number: {0}", num2);
        System.Console.WriteLine("The sum of the two numbers: {0}", sum);
    }
}

Output

First complex number:  2 + 3i
Second complex number: 3 + 4i
The sum of the two numbers: 5 + 7i

See Also

Reference

C# Operators
operator (C# Reference)

Concepts

C# Programming Guide