Free vintage quaternion textbook from the great folks at Gutenberg.org written by Arthur S. Hathaway in 1896. Link is to PDF file.
Free Online Quaternions Textbooks
I hope you don’t mind me saying that this is one topic that I never covered in my college career and I’m not entirely sure if it should be maintained here in the mathematics section or over in the Physics category as they seem to be fields of study that are very closely related.
Wikipedia’s entry begins with, “In mathematics, the quaternions are a number system that extends the complex numbers.”, so, for now, they will remain in the math section.
Wikipedia further explains, “Quaternions find uses in both theoretical and applied mathematics, in particular for calculations involving three-dimensional rotations such as in three-dimensional computer graphics and computer vision. They can be used alongside other methods, such as Euler angles and matrices, or as an alternative to them depending on the application.”
Hopefully, anyone studying quaternions, who needs a bit of help or access to some free online textbooks will find what they are looking for among the materials listed below.
List of Free Online Quaternions Textbooks
A Primer of Quaternions
Application of Quaternions
Free online, 39 page textbook on Quaternions written by Gernot Hoggmann in 2005.
Doing Physics with Quaternions
Informative website by Doug Sweetser, graduate of MIT with S.B degrees in Biology and Chemical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Software Engineering from Brandeis University. With videos, examples and much thought, Doug explains quaternions and their applications in physics.
On quaternions, or on a new system of imaginaries in algebra.
Written by Sir William Rowan Hamilton in 1844 through 1850, this online text was originally published in 18 installments across several issues of The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science.