most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net 2013-05-22T08:28:41Z http://mathoverflow.net/feeds/user/1393 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdf http://mathoverflow.net/questions/3819/why-do-functions-in-complex-analysis-behave-so-well-as-opposed-to-functions-in/3828#3828 Chris 2009-11-02T17:54:38Z 2009-11-02T17:54:38Z

<p>Simple answer: because there are so many real-valued smooth functions, and so few complex analytic functions.</p> <p>(Which is just a smug way of rephrasing Armin Straub's answer. The key is that analyticity is such a strong requirement as opposed to smoothness.)</p>