Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications
Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
2004
Abstract
William Rowan Hamilton invented the quaternions in 1843, in his effort to construct hypercomplex numbers, or higher dimensional generalizations of the complex numbers. Failing to construct a generalization in three dimensions (involving triplets) in such a way that division would be possible, he considered systems with four complex units and arrived at the quaternions. He realized that, just as multiplication by i is a rotation by 90o in the complex plane, each one of his complex units could also be associated with a rotation in space. Vectors were introduced by Hamilton for the first time as pure quaternions and Vector Calculus was at first developed as part of this theory. Maxwell\'s Electromagnetism was first written using quaternions.'
Publisher
Sandia National Laboraties
Publication Title
Sandia Technical Report
Language (ISO)
English
Recommended Citation
Sandia Technical Report, SAND2004-0153
Comments
Sandia Technical Report;SAND2004-0153
Article author is part of the Main Campus Math Department.