Alexander McAulay
Alexander McAulay (9 December 1863 – 6 July 1931) was the first professor of mathematics and physics at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania. He was also a proponent of dual quaternions, which he termed "octonions" or "Clifford biquaternions". McAulay was born on 9 December 1863 and attended Kingswood School in Bath. He proceeded to Caius College, Cambridge, there taking up a study of the quaternion algebra. In 1883 he published an article "Some general theorems in quaternion integration". McAulay took his degree in 1886, and began to reflect on the instruction of students in quaternion theory. In an article "Establishment of the fundamental properties of quaternions" he suggested improvements to the texts then in use. He also wrote a technical article on integration. Departing for Australia, he lectured at Ormond College, University of Melbourne from 1893 to 1895. As a distant correspondent, he participated in a vigorous debate about the place of quaternions in phys ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many areas of mathematics, which include number theory (the study of numbers), algebra (the study of formulas and related structures), geometry (the study of shapes and spaces that contain them), Mathematical analysis, analysis (the study of continuous changes), and set theory (presently used as a foundation for all mathematics). Mathematics involves the description and manipulation of mathematical object, abstract objects that consist of either abstraction (mathematics), abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicspurely abstract entities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. Mathematics uses pure reason to proof (mathematics), prove properties of objects, a ''proof'' consisting of a succession of applications of in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Integration (mathematics)
In mathematics, an integral is the continuous analog of a sum, which is used to calculate areas, volumes, and their generalizations. Integration, the process of computing an integral, is one of the two fundamental operations of calculus,Integral calculus is a very well established mathematical discipline for which there are many sources. See and , for example. the other being differentiation. Integration was initially used to solve problems in mathematics and physics, such as finding the area under a curve, or determining displacement from velocity. Usage of integration expanded to a wide variety of scientific fields thereafter. A definite integral computes the signed area of the region in the plane that is bounded by the graph of a given function between two points in the real line. Conventionally, areas above the horizontal axis of the plane are positive while areas below are negative. Integrals also refer to the concept of an ''antiderivative'', a function whose deri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessment to form Cambridge University Press and Assessment under Queen Elizabeth II's approval in August 2021. With a global sales presence, publishing hubs, and offices in more than 40 countries, it published over 50,000 titles by authors from over 100 countries. Its publications include more than 420 academic journals, monographs, reference works, school and university textbooks, and English language teaching and learning publications. It also published Bibles, runs a bookshop in Cambridge, sells through Amazon, and has a conference venues business in Cambridge at the Pitt Building and the Sir Geoffrey Cass Sports and Social Centre. It also served as the King's Printer. Cambridge University Press, as part of the University of Cambridge, was a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hypercomplex Number
In mathematics, hypercomplex number is a traditional term for an element (mathematics), element of a finite-dimensional Algebra over a field#Unital algebra, unital algebra over a field, algebra over the field (mathematics), field of real numbers. The study of hypercomplex numbers in the late 19th century forms the basis of modern group representation theory. History In the nineteenth century, number systems called quaternions, tessarines, coquaternions, biquaternions, and octonions became established concepts in mathematical literature, extending the real and complex numbers. The concept of a hypercomplex number covered them all, and called for a discipline to explain and classify them. The cataloguing project began in 1872 when Benjamin Peirce first published his ''Linear Associative Algebra'', and was carried forward by his son Charles Sanders Peirce. Most significantly, they identified the nilpotent and the idempotent element (ring theory), idempotent elements as useful ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Kingdon Clifford
William Kingdon Clifford (4 May 18453 March 1879) was a British mathematician and philosopher. Building on the work of Hermann Grassmann, he introduced what is now termed geometric algebra, a special case of the Clifford algebra named in his honour. The operations of geometric algebra have the effect of mirroring, rotating, translating, and mapping the geometric objects that are being modelled to new positions. Clifford algebras in general and geometric algebra in particular have been of ever increasing importance to mathematical physics, geometry, and computing. Clifford was the first to suggest that gravitation might be a manifestation of an underlying geometry. In his philosophical writings he coined the expression ''mind-stuff''. Biography Born in Exeter, William Clifford was educated at Doctor Templeton's Academy on Bedford Circus and showed great promise at school. He went on to King's College London (at age 15) and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected fello ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nature (journal)
''Nature'' is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England. As a multidisciplinary publication, ''Nature'' features Peer review, peer-reviewed research from a variety of academic disciplines, mainly in science and technology. It has core editorial offices across the United States, continental Europe, and Asia under the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature. ''Nature'' was one of the world's most cited scientific journals by the Science Edition of the 2022 ''Journal Citation Reports'' (with an ascribed impact factor of 50.5), making it one of the world's most-read and most prestigious academic journals. , it claimed an online readership of about three million unique readers per month. Founded in the autumn of 1869, ''Nature'' was first circulated by Norman Lockyer and Alexander MacMillan (publisher), Alexander MacMillan as a public forum for scientific innovations. The mid-20th century facilitated an editorial expansion for the j ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Rowan Hamilton
Sir William Rowan Hamilton (4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish astronomer, mathematician, and physicist who made numerous major contributions to abstract algebra, classical mechanics, and optics. His theoretical works and mathematical equations are considered fundamental to modern theoretical physics, particularly Hamiltonian mechanics, his reformulation of Lagrangian mechanics. His career included the analysis of geometrical optics, Fourier analysis, and quaternions, the last of which made him one of the founders of modern linear algebra. Hamilton was Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin. He was also the third director of Dunsink Observatory from 1827 to 1865. The Hamilton Institute at Maynooth University is named after him. Early life Hamilton was the fourth of nine children born to Sarah Hutton (1780–1817) and Archibald Hamilton (1778–1819), who lived in Dublin at 29 Dominick Street, Dublin, Dominick Street, later renumbered to 36. Ham ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Afflatus
is a Latin term used by Cicero in , ("The Nature of the Gods") and has been translated as "inspiration". Cicero's usage was a literalising of "inspiration", which had already become figurative. As "inspiration" had come to mean simply the gathering of a new idea, Cicero reiterated the idea of a rush of unexpected breath, a powerful force that would render the poet helpless and unaware of its origin. Literally, the Latin means "to blow upon/toward". It was originally spelt , made up of (to) and (blowing/breathing), the noun form of (to blow). It can be taken to mean "to be blown upon" by a divine wind, like its English equivalent ''inspiration'', which comes from ''inspire'', meaning "to breathe/blow onto". In English, is used for the literal form of inspiration. It generally refers not to the usual sudden originality but the staggering and stunning blow of a new idea, which the recipient may be unable to explain. In Romantic literature and criticism, in particular, the u ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peter Guthrie Tait
Peter Guthrie Tait (28 April 18314 July 1901) was a Scottish Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook ''Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he co-wrote with William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Lord Kelvin, and his early investigations into knot theory. His work on knot theory contributed to the eventual formation of topology as a mathematical discipline. His name is known in graph theory mainly for Tait's conjecture on cubic graphs. He is also one of the namesakes of the Tait–Kneser theorem on osculating circles. Early life Tait was born in Dalkeith on 28 April 1831 the only son of Mary Ronaldson and John Tait, secretary to the Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch, 5th Duke of Buccleuch. He was educated at Dalkeith Grammar School then Edinburgh Academy, where he began his lifelong friendship with James Clerk Maxwell. He studied mathematics and physics at the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bulletin Of The American Mathematical Society
The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. Scope It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. It also publishes, by invitation only, book reviews and short ''Mathematical Perspectives'' articles. History It began as the ''Bulletin of the New York Mathematical Society'' and underwent a name change when the society became national. The Bulletin's function has changed over the years; its original function was to serve as a research journal for its members. Indexing The Bulletin is indexed in Mathematical Reviews, Science Citation Index, ISI Alerting Services, CompuMath Citation Index, and Current Contents/Physical, Chemical & Earth Sciences. See also *'' Journal of the American Mathematical Society'' *'' Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society'' *'' Notices of the American Mathematical Society'' *'' Proceedings of the Ame ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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A History Of Vector Analysis
''A History of Vector Analysis'' (1967) is a book on the history of vector analysis by Michael J. Crowe, originally published by the University of Notre Dame Press. As a scholarly treatment of a reformation in technical communication, the text is a contribution to the history of science. In 2002, Crowe gave a talk summarizing the book, including an entertaining introduction in which he covered its publication history and related the award of a Jean Scott prize of $4000. Crowe had entered the book in a competition for "a study on the history of complex and hypercomplex numbers" twenty-five years after his book was first published. Summary of book The book has eight chapters: the first on the origins of vector analysis including Ancient Greek and 16th and 17th century influences; the second on the 19th century William Rowan Hamilton and quaternions; the third on other 19th and 18th century vectorial systems including equipollence of Giusto Bellavitis and the exterior algebra of H ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |