Quaternions, Vectors, and Veritable Numbers
Peter F. Erickson
Quaternions were discovered (or invented) early in the 19th century, when Sir William Rowan Hamilton set out to duplicate a significant part of the imaginary number system. His efforts were not entirely right; however, the later attempts by Josiah Willard Gibbs and others to replace the quaternions with vectors were not entirely right either. But much can be done with the newly discovered veritable number system.
