Octonians in Python

Paul Rubin phr-n2001 at nightsong.com
Sat Oct 6 14:33:59 EDT 2001


"David Feustel" <dfeustel at mindspring.com> writes:
> There is one additional system of complex numbers
> (octonians) beyond quaternions. Are there any
> python implementations of octonians?

Octonians are also sometimes called octaves.  I think they have
applications in some esoteric areas of theoretical physics, but I know
of no applications at all for them in ordinary CS or engineering.
That's probably why there aren't many implementations around.

Octonian arithmetic is not only noncommutative, but it's also
nonassociative.  Here's a nice article abont octonians, by the
always entertaining John Baez:

  http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/97/divialg2



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