quaternion
A group or set of four people or thingsA group or set of four people or things.
» Many students find quaternion arithmetic unintuitive because it has non-commutative multiplication.
Meaning
3 sensesA group or set of four people or things.
A word of four syllables.
A type of four-dimensional hypercomplex number consisting of a real part and three imaginary parts (real multiples of distinct, independent square roots of −1 denoted by i, j and k); commonly used in vector mathematics and as an alternative to matrix algebra in calculating the rotation of three-dimensional objects.
Quaternion
кватернионkvaternion
- the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one
Examples
2 sentencesMany students find quaternion arithmetic unintuitive because it has non-commutative multiplication.
In quaternion arithmetic, there are more than two distinct square roots of -1.
Translations
7 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English quaterniǒun, from Late Latin quaterniō, from quaternī (“four each”) +From Middle English quaterniǒun, from Late Latin quaterniō, from quaternī (“four each”) + -iō, from quater (“four times”). Doublet of kern. The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1843.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: quaternions| Singular | quaternion |
|---|---|
| Plural | quaternions |
regular
Synonyms
11 synonyms- the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one:four4IVtetradquaternquaternaryquaternityquartet