Quaternion

lastmod 2018-08-17created 2014-09-031 edits

A quaternion (四元數) is a new number system created by extending the complex numbers. Quaternions were first devised by Sir William Hamilton, and are therefore also called Hamilton numbers.

Representing rotations with quaternions was more concise and faster to compute than representations using matrices. For this reason, quaternions are used in computer graphics, control theory, signal processing, attitue control, physics, bioinformatics, molecular dynamics, computer simulation, orbital mechanics, and more.

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• Wikipedia (en) Description of quaternions
• Wikipedia (ko) Description of quaternions
• Quaternions and spatial rotation ¹

References