biquaternion Math.
(baɪkwɒˈtɜːnɪən)
[bi-2.]
1. A quaternion with complex coefficients.
| 1852 Rep. Brit. Assoc. (1853) Notices & Abstracts 2 On Biquaternions. By Sir William R. Hamilton. 1853 W. R. Hamilton Lect. Quatern. p. lxviii, A biquaternion may be considered generally as the sum of a biscalar and a bivector. 1905 C. J. Joly Man. Quaternions ii. 21 The tensor of a biquaternion may vanish. |
2. (See quots.)
| 1873 W. K. Clifford in Proc. London Math. Soc. IV. 386 In this way the ratio γ+ωδ / α+ωβ is expressed in the form q + ω{supr}, which expression may conveniently be called a biquaternion. 1876 ― Math. Papers (1882) 394 The ratio of two motors is a quantity of the form..s + ωt (if 2s = p + q, t = 2p - q), where p, q, s, t are quaternions. This combination of two quaternions I have called a Biquaternion. 1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 614/2 Clifford's biquaternions are quantities ξq + ηr, where q, r are quaternions, and ξ, η are symbols (commutative with quaternions) obeying the laws ξ2 = ξ, η2 = η, ξη = ηξ = 0. |