Definitions

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  • noun Plural form of quaternion.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • This isn't just an academic exercise though; a different system devised by Hamilton, called quaternions, evolved into the vector algebra that is now used extensively by physicists to describe the real world in another way.

    Multiplication is not repeated addition Bill Kerr 2009

  • You have to give up commutativity to get the quaternions.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Yow! 2009

  • Peirce was primarily an algebraist in his mathematical style; for example, he was enthusiastic for the cause of quaternions in mechanics after their introduction by W.R. Hamilton in the mid 1840s, and of the various traditions in mechanics he showed some favour for the

    I Am Wearing Stolen Socks 2009

  • The Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton, finding himself on a walk without a pencil when his life's great discovery occurred to him, scratched the formula for quaternions on a stone bridge with a nail.

    Michael Kaplan: The Discovery of Neptune 2009

  • Passing all those quaternions back and forth all the time would use an enormous amount of bandwidth.

    Is 'Free Gesticulation' For Avatars Here Yet? 2008

  • Passing all those quaternions back and forth all the time would use an enormous amount of bandwidth.

    Is 'Free Gesticulation' For Avatars Here Yet? 2008

  • He invented quaternions a major stage in the development of algebra, it says here and helped establish the wave theory of light.

    American Connections James Burke 2007

  • The two four-dimensional Clifford algebras are the 2 ‰ × ‰ 2 matrices and the quaternions.

    Algebra Pratt, Vaughan 2007

  • He invented quaternions a major stage in the development of algebra, it says here and helped establish the wave theory of light.

    American Connections James Burke 2007

  • This has to do with the division algebras: A = R (real), C (complex), Q (quaternions) and O (octonions).

    Why 10 or 11? Sean 2006

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