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Hypercomplex Number
In mathematics, hypercomplex number is a traditional term for an element (mathematics), element of a finite-dimensional Algebra over a field#Unital algebra, unital algebra over a field, algebra over the field (mathematics), field of real numbers. The study of hypercomplex numbers in the late 19th century forms the basis of modern group representation theory. History In the nineteenth century, number systems called quaternions, tessarines, coquaternions, biquaternions, and octonions became established concepts in mathematical literature, extending the real and complex numbers. The concept of a hypercomplex number covered them all, and called for a discipline to explain and classify them. The cataloguing project began in 1872 when Benjamin Peirce first published his ''Linear Associative Algebra'', and was carried forward by his son Charles Sanders Peirce. Most significantly, they identified the nilpotent and the idempotent element (ring theory), idempotent elements as useful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-standard Analysis
The history of calculus is fraught with philosophical debates about the meaning and logical validity of fluxions or infinitesimal numbers. The standard way to resolve these debates is to define the operations of calculus using (ε, δ)-definition of limit, limits rather than infinitesimals. Nonstandard analysis instead reformulates the calculus using a logically rigorous notion of infinitesimal numbers. Nonstandard analysis originated in the early 1960s by the mathematician Abraham Robinson. He wrote: ... the idea of infinitely small or ''infinitesimal'' quantities seems to appeal naturally to our intuition. At any rate, the use of infinitesimals was widespread during the formative stages of the Differential and Integral Calculus. As for the objection ... that the distance between two distinct real numbers cannot be infinitely small, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz argued that the theory of infinitesimals implies the introduction of ideal numbers which might be infinitely small or inf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Sanders Peirce
Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". According to philosopher Paul Weiss (philosopher), Paul Weiss, Peirce was "the most original and versatile of America's philosophers and America's greatest logician". Bertrand Russell wrote "he was one of the most original minds of the later nineteenth century and certainly the greatest American thinker ever". Educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for thirty years, Peirce meanwhile made major contributions to logic, such as theories of Algebraic logic, relations and Quantifier (logic), quantification. Clarence Irving Lewis, C. I. Lewis wrote, "The contributions of C. S. Peirce to symbolic logic are more numerous and varied than those of any other writer—at least in the nineteenth century." For Peirce, logic also encompassed much of what is now called epistemology and the philoso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Wedderburn
Joseph Henry Maclagan Wedderburn FRSE FRS (2 February 1882 – 9 October 1948) was a Scottish mathematician, who taught at Princeton University for most of his career. A significant algebraist, he proved that a finite division algebra is a field ( Wedderburn's little theorem), and part of the Artin–Wedderburn theorem on simple algebras. He also worked on group theory and matrix algebra. His younger brother was the lawyer Ernest Wedderburn. Life Joseph Wedderburn was the tenth of fourteen children of Alexander Wedderburn of Pearsie, a physician, and Anne Ogilvie. He was educated at Forfar Academy then in 1895 his parents sent Joseph and his younger brother Ernest to live in Edinburgh with their paternal uncle, J. R. Maclagan Wedderburn, allowing them to attend George Watson's College. This house was at 3 Glencairn Crescent in the West End of the city. In 1898 Joseph entered the University of Edinburgh. In 1903, he published his first three papers, worked as an assistant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Real Matrix
In mathematics, a matrix (: matrices) is a rectangular array or table of numbers, symbols, or expressions, with elements or entries arranged in rows and columns, which is used to represent a mathematical object or property of such an object. For example, \begin1 & 9 & -13 \\20 & 5 & -6 \end is a matrix with two rows and three columns. This is often referred to as a "two-by-three matrix", a " matrix", or a matrix of dimension . Matrices are commonly used in linear algebra, where they represent linear maps. In geometry, matrices are widely used for specifying and representing geometric transformations (for example rotations) and coordinate changes. In numerical analysis, many computational problems are solved by reducing them to a matrix computation, and this often involves computing with matrices of huge dimensions. Matrices are used in most areas of mathematics and scientific fields, either directly, or through their use in geometry and numerical analysis. '' Square matr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matrix (mathematics)
In mathematics, a matrix (: matrices) is a rectangle, rectangular array or table of numbers, symbol (formal), symbols, or expression (mathematics), expressions, with elements or entries arranged in rows and columns, which is used to represent a mathematical object or property of such an object. For example, \begin1 & 9 & -13 \\20 & 5 & -6 \end is a matrix with two rows and three columns. This is often referred to as a "two-by-three matrix", a " matrix", or a matrix of dimension . Matrices are commonly used in linear algebra, where they represent linear maps. In geometry, matrices are widely used for specifying and representing geometric transformations (for example rotation (mathematics), rotations) and coordinate changes. In numerical analysis, many computational problems are solved by reducing them to a matrix computation, and this often involves computing with matrices of huge dimensions. Matrices are used in most areas of mathematics and scientific fields, either directly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Adams
John Frank Adams (5 November 1930 – 7 January 1989) was a British mathematician, one of the major contributors to homotopy theory. Life He was born in Woolwich, a suburb in south-east London, and attended Bedford School. He had a younger brother, Michael Adams, who rose to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal in the Royal Air Force. He began his academic career at Trinity College, Cambridge, as a student of Abram Besicovitch, but soon switched to algebraic topology. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1956. His thesis, written under the direction of Shaun Wylie, was titled ''On spectral sequences and self-obstruction invariants''. He held the Fielden Chair at the University of Manchester (1964–1970), and became Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at the University of Cambridge (1970–1989). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1964. His interests included mountaineering—he would demonstrate how to climb right round a table at partie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Associative Division Algebra
In the field of mathematics called abstract algebra, a division algebra is, roughly speaking, an algebra over a field in which division, except by zero, is always possible. Definitions Formally, we start with a non-zero algebra ''D'' over a field. We call ''D'' a division algebra if for any element ''a'' in ''D'' and any non-zero element ''b'' in ''D'' there exists precisely one element ''x'' in ''D'' with ''a'' = ''bx'' and precisely one element ''y'' in ''D'' such that . For associative algebras, the definition can be simplified as follows: a non-zero associative algebra over a field is a division algebra if and only if it has a multiplicative identity element 1 and every non-zero element ''a'' has a multiplicative inverse (i.e. an element ''x'' with ). Associative division algebras The best-known examples of associative division algebras are the finite-dimensional real ones (that is, algebras over the field R of real numbers, which are finite- dimensional as a vector space ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frobenius Theorem (real Division Algebras)
In mathematics, more specifically in abstract algebra, the Frobenius theorem, proved by Ferdinand Georg Frobenius in 1877, characterizes the finite-dimensional associative division algebras over the real numbers. According to the theorem, every such algebra is isomorphic to one of the following: * (the real numbers) * (the complex numbers) * (the quaternions) These algebras have real dimension , and , respectively. Of these three algebras, and are commutative, but is not. Proof The main ingredients for the following proof are the Cayley–Hamilton theorem and the fundamental theorem of algebra. Introducing some notation * Let be the division algebra in question. * Let be the dimension of . * We identify the real multiples of with . * When we write for an element of , we imply that is contained in . * We can consider as a finite-dimensional -vector space. Any element of defines an endomorphism of by left-multiplication, we identify with that endomorphism. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Composition Algebra
In mathematics, a composition algebra over a field is a not necessarily associative algebra over together with a nondegenerate quadratic form that satisfies :N(xy) = N(x)N(y) for all and in . A composition algebra includes an involution called a conjugation: x \mapsto x^*. The quadratic form N(x) = x x^* is called the norm of the algebra. A composition algebra (''A'', ∗, ''N'') is either a division algebra or a split algebra, depending on the existence of a non-zero ''v'' in ''A'' such that ''N''(''v'') = 0, called a null vector. When ''x'' is ''not'' a null vector, the multiplicative inverse of ''x'' is When there is a non-zero null vector, ''N'' is an isotropic quadratic form, and "the algebra splits". Structure theorem Every unital composition algebra over a field can be obtained by repeated application of the Cayley–Dickson construction starting from (if the characteristic of is different from ) or a 2-dimensional composition subalgebra (if ). The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hurwitz's Theorem (normed Division Algebras)
In mathematics, Hurwitz's theorem is a theorem of Adolf Hurwitz (1859–1919), published posthumously in 1923, solving the Hurwitz problem for finite-dimensional unital real non-associative algebras endowed with a nondegenerate positive-definite quadratic form. The theorem states that if the quadratic form defines a homomorphism into the positive real numbers on the non-zero part of the algebra, then the algebra must be isomorphic to the real numbers, the complex numbers, the quaternions, or the octonions, and that there are no other possibilities. Such algebras, sometimes called Hurwitz algebras, are examples of composition algebras. The theory of composition algebras has subsequently been generalized to arbitrary quadratic forms and arbitrary fields. Hurwitz's theorem implies that multiplicative formulas for sums of squares can only occur in 1, 2, 4 and 8 dimensions, a result originally proved by Hurwitz in 1898. It is a special case of the Hurwitz problem, solved also in . ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Involution (mathematics)
In mathematics, an involution, involutory function, or self-inverse function is a function that is its own inverse, : for all in the domain of . Equivalently, applying twice produces the original value. General properties Any involution is a bijection. The identity map is a trivial example of an involution. Examples of nontrivial involutions include negation (), reciprocation (), and complex conjugation () in arithmetic; reflection, half-turn rotation, and circle inversion in geometry; complementation in set theory; and reciprocal ciphers such as the ROT13 transformation and the Beaufort polyalphabetic cipher. The composition of two involutions and is an involution if and only if they commute: . Involutions on finite sets The number of involutions, including the identity involution, on a set with elements is given by a recurrence relation found by Heinrich August Rothe in 1800: : a_0 = a_1 = 1 and a_n = a_ + (n - 1)a_ for n > 1. The first few terms of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cayley–Dickson Construction
In mathematics, the Cayley–Dickson construction, sometimes also known as the Cayley–Dickson process or the Cayley–Dickson procedure produces a sequence of algebra over a field, algebras over the field (mathematics), field of real numbers, each with twice the dimension of a vector space, dimension of the previous one. It is named after Arthur Cayley and Leonard Eugene Dickson. The algebras produced by this process are known as Cayley–Dickson algebras, for example complex numbers, quaternions, and octonions. These examples are useful composition algebras frequently applied in mathematical physics. The Cayley–Dickson construction defines a new algebra as a Cartesian product of an algebra with itself, with multiplication defined in a specific way (different from the componentwise operation, componentwise multiplication) and an involution (mathematics), involution known as ''conjugation''. The product of an element and its complex conjugate, conjugate (or sometimes the square ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
