Description
Book SynopsisIntroduces quaternions for scientists and engineers, and shows how they can be used in a variety of practical situations. This book is primarily an exposition of the quaternion, a 4-tuple, and its primary application in a rotation operator. It also presents the conventional and familiar 3 x 3 (9-element) matrix rotation operator.
Trade Review"This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in three-dimensional geometry. It is a competent and comprehensive survey... This book is unique in that it is probably the only modern book to treat quaternions seriously... A valuable asset."--Aeronautical Journal "[A] splendid book ... everything one could wish for in a primer. It is also beautifully set out with an attractive layout, clear diagrams, and wide margins with explanatory notes where appropriate. It must be strongly recommended to all students of physics, engineering or computer science."--Peter Rowlands, Contemporary Physics
Table of ContentsList of FiguresAbout This BookAcknowledgements1Historical Matters32Algebraic Preliminaries133Rotations in 3-space454Rotation Sequences in R[superscript 3]775Quaternion Algebra1036Quaternion Geometry1417Algorithm Summary1558Quaternion Factors1779More Quaternion Applications20510Spherical Trigonometry23511Quaternion Calculus for Kinematics and Dynamics25712Rotations in Phase Space27713A Quaternion Process30314Computer Graphics333Further Reading and References365Index367
