What is real and complex signal?
A real signal at any given time takes its value in the set of real numbers, and a complex signal takes its value in the set of complex numbers.
What are complex signals?
A complex signal consists of two real signals - one for the real and one for the imaginary part. The linear processing of a complex signal, such as filtration with a time-invariant linear filter, corresponds to applying the processing both to the real and the imaginary part of the signal.
What does a real signal mean?
A real-valued signal is just a complex signal where all the imaginary components of all the complex values are strictly zero. Real valued signals have one degree of freedom. Complex signals are often used to represent signals or data with 2 degrees of freedom (magnitude and phase, or kinetic and potential energy, etc.)