A variation of the Root of Unity problem.
I want to find all possible answers to this:
zn=i

Where 
i2=1
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5 
See also math.stackexchange.com/questions/3315/…, which asks for a special case, but whose answers give you everything you need and more. – Jonas Meyer Sep 30 '10 at 4:43
   
By the way, your title doesn't quite match your question. Any purely imaginary root of unity must be an n-th root where n is a multiple of 4 (for example, (-i)^4 = 1). – Weltschmerz Sep 30 '10 at 4:44
   
@weltschmerz I don't know what to call it then? – Talvi Watia Sep 30 '10 at 4:47
   
"All n-th roots of i" would do. – Weltschmerz Sep 30 '10 at 4:48
2 
Or, if you want to emphasize that they're not real, you could refer to "complex roots of i". – Michael Lugo Sep 30 '10 at 5:03

3 Answers

If the polar form of z is 
z=r(cosθ+isinθ),
there are n distinct solutions to the equation wn=z
w=rn(cosθ+2πkn+isinθ+2πkn),
where k=0,1,...,n1. In your case, z=i, whose polar form is given by r=1θ=Ï€/2.
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Generally, the answers would be of the form
inωnj

where Ï‰n=exp(2iÏ€n) is a root of unity, and j=0n1.
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Also, observe that if zn=i then z4n=1. Thus, the complex numbers you're looking for are particular 4n-th roots of 1.
If you know that the m-th roots of 1 (any m) can be written as powers of a single well-chosen one (a primitive root), it shouldn't be too hardto find exactly which 4n-th roots have the desired property.