blog




  • Essay / Hamilton Essay - 738

    Why was Hamilton important to the world of mathematics? Well, he invented quaternions. Now I don't know how to explain it, because I haven't really heard of it. The form of this expression is a+bi+cj+dk. In this expression, the variables a, b, c, and d are all real numbers. There's a little more to it than that, but I'll get to that later. Now, I don't know how you would use it, but I'm sure it's important! He also invented the Icosian calculus. Hopefully I will learn more about both inventions next year. Hamilton was born on August 3, 1895. He was the fourth child of 9. His parents were very busy, so he lived with his uncle James. James had emigrated from Scotland, so Hamilton is of Irish origin. He started learning different languages ​​at the age of 5. At age 7, he knew Greek quite well. By age 13, he knew Persian, Arabic and much more. James, who specialized in languages, taught him many other languages. Before becoming interested in mathematics, he enjoyed learning different languages. As he grew up, he began to take a strong interest in mathematics. He still remembered the languages ​​he had learned, but he only had them as a hobby. At the age of 12, he read a book by Isaac Newton called “Arithmetica universalis”. By reading this book, he discovered modern analysis. He read other books, which strengthened his understanding of multiple concepts that would help him later. For example, one book he read was “Principia,” which expanded his knowledge of certain mathematical concepts. At around 16, he began preparing to enter the university of his choice, Trinity College, located in Dublin. To prepare for university, he studied a book written by Pierre-Simon Lampplace. This tested Hamilton's abilities and required him to invent quaternions, he also invented the Icosian calculus in 1856. This was intended to help with dodecahedra. After inventing this, he created new words that would be used in graph theory. These words are Hamiltonian circuit and Hamiltonian path. So instead of just inventing Icosian calculus, he also added to the list of words that people learning graph theory need to know. People should know he's pretty smart now. Overall, Hamilton ended up accomplishing a lot in his life. He published papers, created quaternions, as well as biquaternions, the Icosian calculus, as well as new terms that would be used with it. He accomplished all this in 60 years. It's quite impressive! He was also top of his class in college and earned a professorship at the Andrews Chair of Astronomy! Hamilton left a long legacy that remains with us today.