Re: The origin of quaternions

From: Ken Pledger (Ken.Pledger_at_mcs.vuw.ac.nz)
Date: 11/30/04 

Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 09:27:33 +1300

In article <41AB6DE9.10909@earthlink.net>,
 Roger Bagula <tftn@earthlink.net> wrote:

> My understanding was that he was studying vector analysis
> and looking at A divid B for two vectors.
> ( ref. page 15 Theoretical Mexhanics, Ames and Murnaghan, Dover,1957).
> " The consideration of A divid B , not as a vector but as an operation
> carrying a representative segment B into
> a coterminous representative segment of A, led Sir William Hamilton to
> the study of quaternions."....

      This may be a misunderstanding. I remember that one of Hamilton's
text-books does begin with the idea of dividing one vector by another,
but that was written long after the original discovery/invention.

            Ken Pledger.