Oh thanks, I didn't know that (I studied physics and only know the chemistry part superficially). But I did know, and wondered about, the fact that the spherica

Oh thanks, I didn't know that (I studied physics and only know the chemistry part superficially). But I did know, and wondered about, the fact that the spherical harmonics have an e^imϕ factor yet there's nothing about the explanation that involves complex numbers per se (besides that writing out sine/cosine series is way more tedious than exponentials). Makes sense that they just get factored.