quaternion

Meaning

1. A group or set of four people or things.
2. A word of four syllables.
3. A type of four-dimensional hypercomplex number consisting of a real part and three imaginary parts (real multiples of distinct, independent square roots of −1 denoted by i, j and k); commonly used in vector mathematics and as an alternative to matrix algebra in calculating the rotation of three-dimensional objects.

Synonyms

four

foursome

quadruplet

quartet

quaternary

tetrad

quatern

IV

quaternity

Little Joe

4

hypercomplex number

quaternion numbers

Translations

quaternion

quaternione

quatern

quaternió

Quaternion

τετραδόνιο

τετράνιο

quatre

4

quatuor

10

Quaternion

quaternions

quattro

4

4

kwaternion

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kwəˈtɜːni.ən/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: quaternioun

In summary

From Middle English quaterniǒun, from Late Latin quaterniō, from quaternī (“four each”) + -iō, from quater (“four times”). Doublet of kern. The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1843.