A History of Vector Analysis: The Evolution of the Idea of a Vectorial System Revised Edition Contributor(s): Crowe, Michael J. (Author), Mathematics (Author) |
|
ISBN: 0486679101 ISBN-13: 9780486679105 Publisher: Dover Publications OUR PRICE: $17.96 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: November 2011 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Mathematics | Calculus - Mathematics | Vector Analysis - Mathematics | History & Philosophy |
Dewey: 515.63 |
LCCN: 93006116 |
Series: Dover Books on Mathematics |
Physical Information: 0.62" H x 5.44" W x 8.44" (0.70 lbs) 304 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: On October 16, 1843, Sir William Rowan Hamilton discovered quaternions and, on the very same day, presented his breakthrough to the Royal Irish Academy. Meanwhile, in a less dramatic style, a German high school teacher, Hermann Grassmann, was developing another vectorial system involving hypercomplex numbers comparable to quaternions. The creations of these two mathematicians led to other vectorial systems, most notably the system of vector analysis formulated by Josiah Willard Gibbs and Oliver Heaviside and now almost universally employed in mathematics, physics and engineering. Yet the Gibbs-Heaviside system won acceptance only after decades of debate and controversy in the latter half of the nineteenth century concerning which of the competing systems offered the greatest advantages for mathematical pedagogy and practice. |