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Quaternions
In mathematics, the quaternion number system extends the complex numbers. Quaternions were first described by the Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton in 1843 and applied to mechanics in three-dimensional space. Hamilton defined a quaternion as the quotient of two '' directed lines'' in a three-dimensional space, or, equivalently, as the quotient of two vectors. Multiplication of quaternions is noncommutative. Quaternions are generally represented in the form :a + b\ \mathbf i + c\ \mathbf j +d\ \mathbf k where , and are real numbers; and , and are the ''basic quaternions''. Quaternions are used in pure mathematics, but also have practical uses in applied mathematics, particularly for calculations involving three-dimensional rotations, such as in three-dimensional computer graphics, computer vision, and crystallographic texture analysis. They can be used alongside other methods of rotation, such as Euler angles and rotation matrices, or as an alternative to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quaternions And Spatial Rotation
Unit quaternions, known as ''versors'', provide a convenient mathematical notation for representing spatial orientations and rotations of elements in three dimensional space. Specifically, they encode information about an axis-angle rotation about an arbitrary axis. Rotation and orientation quaternions have applications in computer graphics, Presented at SIGGRAPH '85. computer vision, robotics, navigation, molecular dynamics, flight dynamics, orbital mechanics of satellites, and crystallographic texture analysis. When used to represent rotation, unit quaternions are also called rotation quaternions as they represent the 3D rotation group. When used to represent an orientation (rotation relative to a reference coordinate system), they are called orientation quaternions or attitude quaternions. A spatial rotation around a fixed point of \theta radians about a unit axis (X,Y,Z) that denotes the ''Euler axis'' is given by the quaternion (C, X \, S, Y \, S, Z \, S), where C = \cos(\ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Rowan Hamilton
Sir William Rowan Hamilton LL.D, DCL, MRIA, FRAS (3/4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He was the Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin, and Royal Astronomer of Ireland, living at Dunsink Observatory. Hamilton's scientific career included the study of geometrical optics, ideas from Fourier analysis, and his work on quaternions which made him one of the founders of modern linear algebra. He made major contributions in optics, classical mechanics and abstract algebra. His work was fundamental to modern theoretical physics, particularly his reformulation of Newtonian mechanics, now called Hamiltonian mechanics. It is now central both to electromagnetism and to quantum mechanics. Early life Hamilton was the fourth of nine children born to Sarah Hutton (1780–1817) and Archibald Hamilton (1778–1819),Bruno (2003) who lived in Dublin at 29 Dominick Street, later renumbered to 36. Hamilton's father, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clifford Algebra
In mathematics, a Clifford algebra is an algebra generated by a vector space with a quadratic form, and is a unital associative algebra. As -algebras, they generalize the real numbers, complex numbers, quaternions and several other hypercomplex number systems. The theory of Clifford algebras is intimately connected with the theory of quadratic forms and orthogonal transformations. Clifford algebras have important applications in a variety of fields including geometry, theoretical physics and digital image processing. They are named after the English mathematician William Kingdon Clifford. The most familiar Clifford algebras, the orthogonal Clifford algebras, are also referred to as (''pseudo-'')''Riemannian Clifford algebras'', as distinct from ''symplectic Clifford algebras''.see for ex. Introduction and basic properties A Clifford algebra is a unital associative algebra that contains and is generated by a vector space over a field , where is equipped with a qua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotation Matrix
In linear algebra, a rotation matrix is a transformation matrix that is used to perform a rotation in Euclidean space. For example, using the convention below, the matrix :R = \begin \cos \theta & -\sin \theta \\ \sin \theta & \cos \theta \end rotates points in the plane counterclockwise through an angle with respect to the positive axis about the origin of a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. To perform the rotation on a plane point with standard coordinates , it should be written as a column vector, and multiplied by the matrix : : R\mathbf = \begin \cos \theta & -\sin \theta \\ \sin \theta & \cos \theta \end \begin x \\ y \end = \begin x\cos\theta-y\sin\theta \\ x\sin\theta+y\cos\theta \end. If and are the endpoint coordinates of a vector, where is cosine and is sine, then the above equations become the trigonometric summation angle formulae. Indeed, a rotation matrix can be seen as the trigonometric summation angle formulae in matrix form. On ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euler Angles
The Euler angles are three angles introduced by Leonhard Euler to describe the orientation of a rigid body with respect to a fixed coordinate system.Novi Commentarii academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae 20, 1776, pp. 189–207 (E478PDF/ref> They can also represent the orientation of a mobile frame of reference in physics or the orientation of a general basis in 3-dimensional linear algebra. Alternative forms were later introduced by Peter Guthrie Tait and George H. Bryan intended for use in aeronautics and engineering. Chained rotations equivalence Euler angles can be defined by elemental geometry or by composition of rotations. The geometrical definition demonstrates that three composed ''elemental rotations'' (rotations about the axes of a coordinate system) are always sufficient to reach any target frame. The three elemental rotations may be extrinsic (rotations about the axes ''xyz'' of the original coordinate system, which is assumed to remain motionless), or intri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three-dimensional Space
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal meaning of the term dimension. In mathematics, a tuple of numbers can be understood as the Cartesian coordinates of a location in a -dimensional Euclidean space. The set of these -tuples is commonly denoted \R^n, and can be identified to the -dimensional Euclidean space. When , this space is called three-dimensional Euclidean space (or simply Euclidean space when the context is clear). It serves as a model of the physical universe (when relativity theory is not considered), in which all known matter exists. While this space remains the most compelling and useful way to model the world as it is experienced, it is only one example of a large variety of spaces in three dimensions called 3-manifolds. In this classical example, when the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Complex Number
In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the form a + bi, where and are real numbers. Because no real number satisfies the above equation, was called an imaginary number by René Descartes. For the complex number a+bi, is called the , and is called the . The set of complex numbers is denoted by either of the symbols \mathbb C or . Despite the historical nomenclature "imaginary", complex numbers are regarded in the mathematical sciences as just as "real" as the real numbers and are fundamental in many aspects of the scientific description of the natural world. Complex numbers allow solutions to all polynomial equations, even those that have no solutions in real numbers. More precisely, the fundamental theorem of algebra asserts that every non-constant polynomial equation with rea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Division Ring
In algebra, a division ring, also called a skew field, is a nontrivial ring in which division by nonzero elements is defined. Specifically, it is a nontrivial ring in which every nonzero element has a multiplicative inverse, that is, an element usually denoted , such that . So, (right) ''division'' may be defined as , but this notation is avoided, as one may have . A commutative division ring is a field. Wedderburn's little theorem asserts that all finite division rings are commutative and therefore finite fields. Historically, division rings were sometimes referred to as fields, while fields were called "commutative fields". In some languages, such as French, the word equivalent to "field" ("corps") is used for both commutative and noncommutative cases, and the distinction between the two cases is made by adding qualificatives such as "corps commutatif" (commutative field) or "corps gauche" (skew field). All division rings are simple. That is, they have no two-sided ideal b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Composition Algebra
In mathematics, a composition algebra over a field is a not necessarily associative algebra over together with a nondegenerate quadratic form that satisfies :N(xy) = N(x)N(y) for all and in . A composition algebra includes an involution called a conjugation: x \mapsto x^*. The quadratic form N(x) = x x^* is called the norm of the algebra. A composition algebra (''A'', ∗, ''N'') is either a division algebra or a split algebra, depending on the existence of a non-zero ''v'' in ''A'' such that ''N''(''v'') = 0, called a null vector. When ''x'' is ''not'' a null vector, the multiplicative inverse of ''x'' is When there is a non-zero null vector, ''N'' is an isotropic quadratic form, and "the algebra splits". Structure theorem Every unital composition algebra over a field can be obtained by repeated application of the Cayley–Dickson construction starting from (if the characteristic of is different from ) or a 2-dimensional composition subalgebra (if ). The po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frobenius Theorem (real Division Algebras)
In mathematics, more specifically in abstract algebra, the Frobenius theorem, proved by Ferdinand Georg Frobenius in 1877, characterizes the finite-dimensional associative division algebras over the real numbers. According to the theorem, every such algebra is isomorphic to one of the following: * (the real numbers) * (the complex numbers) * (the quaternions). These algebras have real dimension , and , respectively. Of these three algebras, and are commutative, but is not. Proof The main ingredients for the following proof are the Cayley–Hamilton theorem and the fundamental theorem of algebra. Introducing some notation * Let be the division algebra in question. * Let be the dimension of . * We identify the real multiples of with . * When we write for an element of , we tacitly assume that is contained in . * We can consider as a finite-dimensional - vector space. Any element of defines an endomorphism of by left-multiplication, we identify with that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Division Algebra
In the field of mathematics called abstract algebra, a division algebra is, roughly speaking, an algebra over a field in which division, except by zero, is always possible. Definitions Formally, we start with a non-zero algebra ''D'' over a field. We call ''D'' a division algebra if for any element ''a'' in ''D'' and any non-zero element ''b'' in ''D'' there exists precisely one element ''x'' in ''D'' with ''a'' = ''bx'' and precisely one element ''y'' in ''D'' such that . For associative algebras, the definition can be simplified as follows: a non-zero associative algebra over a field is a division algebra if and only if it has a multiplicative identity element 1 and every non-zero element ''a'' has a multiplicative inverse (i.e. an element ''x'' with ). Associative division algebras The best-known examples of associative division algebras are the finite-dimensional real ones (that is, algebras over the field R of real numbers, which are finite- dimensional as a vector spa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector (geometry)
In mathematics, physics, and engineering, a Euclidean vector or simply a vector (sometimes called a geometric vector or spatial vector) is a geometric object that has magnitude (or length) and direction. Vectors can be added to other vectors according to vector algebra. A Euclidean vector is frequently represented by a '' directed line segment'', or graphically as an arrow connecting an ''initial point'' ''A'' with a ''terminal point'' ''B'', and denoted by \overrightarrow . A vector is what is needed to "carry" the point ''A'' to the point ''B''; the Latin word ''vector'' means "carrier". It was first used by 18th century astronomers investigating planetary revolution around the Sun. The magnitude of the vector is the distance between the two points, and the direction refers to the direction of displacement from ''A'' to ''B''. Many algebraic operations on real numbers such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and negation have close analogues for vectors, operati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
