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11 - Can We Go Further?

from Part III - The Real Numbers (and the Complex Numbers)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2019

T. W. Körner
T. W. Körner
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

The quaternions of Hamilton show that it possible to generalise the complex numbers, but only at the expense of introducing unexpected behaviour. It is thus reasonable to extend no further than the complex numbers. However the quaternions provided the inspiration for vectors.

Keywords

quaternionsHamiltonvectors
Type
Chapter
Information
Where Do Numbers Come From? , pp. 221 - 230
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Can We Go Further?
  • T. W. Körner, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Where Do Numbers Come From?
  • Online publication: 16 October 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108768863.012
Available formats
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  • Can We Go Further?
  • T. W. Körner, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Where Do Numbers Come From?
  • Online publication: 16 October 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108768863.012
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Can We Go Further?
  • T. W. Körner, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Where Do Numbers Come From?
  • Online publication: 16 October 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108768863.012
Available formats
×