A Brief History of Quaternions and of the Theory of Holomorphic Functions of Quaternionic Variables

Amy Buchmann

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arXiv · 1111.6088

A Brief History of Quaternions and of the Theory of Holomorphic Functions of Quaternionic Variables

Amy Buchmann

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Abstract

In this paper I will give a brief history of the discovery (Hamilton, 1843) of quaternions. I will address the issue of why a theory of triplets (the original goal of Hamilton) could not be developed. Finally, I will discuss briefly the history of various attempts to define holomorphic functions on quaternionic variables.

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Amy Buchmann. 2011-11-25. A Brief History of Quaternions and of the Theory of Holomorphic Functions of Quaternionic Variables. https://arxiv.org/abs/1111.6088

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