After it was understood that the complex numbers could be understood geometrically as the points on a plane there was a search for a 3d generalisation of these numbers.

This led to Hamiltons discovery of the quaternions. The suprise here that they had a 1d real part and a 3d vector part and furthermore they were anti-symmetric.

After it was understood that the complex numbers could be understood geometrically as the points on a plane there was a search for a 3d generalisation of these numbers.

This led to Hamilton's discovery of the quaternions. The surprise here that they had a 1d real part and a 3d vector part and furthermore they were anti-symmetric.