quaternion

n. நான்கன் தொகுதி, ஒரு தடவை இரண்டாக மடித்த நான்கு தாள்ளின் தொகுதி, பிதகோரஸ் என்ற பண்டைக் கிரேக்க அறிஞரின்படி மறை மெய்ம்மை உள்ளீடாகக் கொண்டு பத்தைக் கூட்டுத்தொகையாகவுடைய முழ்ல் நான்கு இலக்கங்களின் தொகுதி, (கண.) ஏவளவைகளின் இடையீவு.

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Qua*ter"ni*on, n. Etym: [L. quaternio, fr.quaterni four each. See Quaternary.] 1. The number four. [Poetic] 2. A set of four parts, things, or person; four things taken collectively; a group of four words, phrases, circumstances, facts, or the like. Delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers. Acts xii. 4. Ye elements, the eldest birth Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run. Milton. The triads and quaternions with which he loaded his sentences. Sir W. Scott. 3. A word of four syllables; a quadrisyllable. 4. (Math.) Defn: The quotient of two vectors, or of two directed right lines in space, considered as depending on four geometrical elements, and as expressible by an algebraic symbol of quadrinomial form. Note: The science or calculus of quaternions is a new mathematical method, in which the conception of a quaternion is unfolded and symbolically expressed, and is applied to various classes of algebraical, geometrical, and physical questions, so as to discover theorems, and to arrive at the solution of problems. Sir W. R. Hamilton. Qua*ter"ni*on, v. t. Defn: To divide into quaternions, files, or companies. Milton.

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