Quaternion algebra
Generalization of quaternions to other fields / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In mathematics, a quaternion algebra over a field F is a central simple algebra A over F[1][2] that has dimension 4 over F. Every quaternion algebra becomes a matrix algebra by extending scalars (equivalently, tensoring with a field extension), i.e. for a suitable field extension K of F, is isomorphic to the 2 × 2 matrix algebra over K.
The notion of a quaternion algebra can be seen as a generalization of Hamilton's quaternions to an arbitrary base field. The Hamilton quaternions are a quaternion algebra (in the above sense) over , and indeed the only one over apart from the 2 × 2 real matrix algebra, up to isomorphism. When , then the biquaternions form the quaternion algebra over F.