Tuesday, January 20, 2015

(x, why?) Mini: Octonions

(Click on the comic if you can't see the full image.)
(C)Copyright 2015, C. Burke.

Now I'm wondering about octgarlic.

Unfortunately, this is from a part of mathematics that has past me by. Something from after I started concentrating on my computer science studies in college.

I've seen the word "octonion" before, but it just popped up when i was lazily checking through a list of math blogs I bookmarked a couple years ago but haven't really visited. Sadly, I don't always know at first glance what they're talking about, and I rarely have the time to do the "catch-up" work to figure it out.





2 comments:

Unknown said...

Basic premise is that they're vectors of 8 dimensions. That makes them non-commutative and non-associative. Quarternions have an application in 3d graphics rendering, still looking for an application for octonions!

(x, why?) said...

Good to know. Thanks for the explanation!