Daddy can you multiply triples?
August 1, 2016 5:24 AM Subscribe
A group of Science YouTubers got together to perform a tribute to a scientist Hamilton, in the style of his political musical namesake.
Wikipedia's List of things named after William Rowan Hamilton contains twenty three distinct items.
posted by zamboni at 6:04 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by zamboni at 6:04 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Watched the video to see if it had him carving the quaternions formula into Broom Bridge, came away satisfied.
posted by kersplunk at 6:29 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by kersplunk at 6:29 AM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
This is fantastic.
posted by pemberkins at 7:00 AM on August 1, 2016
posted by pemberkins at 7:00 AM on August 1, 2016
That was amazing. I wish I were good enough at math to understand how much I wasn't appreciating it enough.
posted by Mchelly at 7:29 AM on August 1, 2016
posted by Mchelly at 7:29 AM on August 1, 2016
!
I was actually working on something so very like this that I'm not sure if I should be confused as to whether I was involved or relieved it's done.
posted by wildblueyonder at 7:29 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
I was actually working on something so very like this that I'm not sure if I should be confused as to whether I was involved or relieved it's done.
posted by wildblueyonder at 7:29 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
After seeing 'William Wordsworth' singing in front of the Wren Cloisters of Trinity College, Cambridge at 1.05 I had to check where Hamilton studied, and it was (as I had thought), Trinity College, Dublin rather than Trinity College, Cambridge.
posted by James Scott-Brown at 7:52 AM on August 1, 2016
posted by James Scott-Brown at 7:52 AM on August 1, 2016
I wish I were good enough at math to understand how much I wasn't appreciating it enough.
Haha yeah I felt the same way. Anyone able to translate what's going on in the video? He discovered something mathy? i^2 * j^2 * k^2 = -1?
posted by divabat at 8:01 AM on August 1, 2016
Haha yeah I felt the same way. Anyone able to translate what's going on in the video? He discovered something mathy? i^2 * j^2 * k^2 = -1?
posted by divabat at 8:01 AM on August 1, 2016
divabat: Anyone able to translate what's going on in the video? He discovered something mathy? i^2 j^2 k^2 = -1?
He discovered quaternions, which are an extension of complex numbers: rather than just one number (i) that equals -1 when squared, these use thee (i,j,k). Also multiplication is no longer commutative (the order in which things are multiplied matters, so a times b is not the same as b times a). They can be used to represent rotations.
Oh wait no, they all equal each other. Maybe. I-D-K
No, they do not equal each other (see the definition section of the article).
posted by James Scott-Brown at 8:51 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
He discovered quaternions, which are an extension of complex numbers: rather than just one number (i) that equals -1 when squared, these use thee (i,j,k). Also multiplication is no longer commutative (the order in which things are multiplied matters, so a times b is not the same as b times a). They can be used to represent rotations.
Oh wait no, they all equal each other. Maybe. I-D-K
No, they do not equal each other (see the definition section of the article).
posted by James Scott-Brown at 8:51 AM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
Real numbers are single numbers, and we add add, subtract, multiply, and divide them, and we have associativity and commutativity. Complex numbers are pairs of reals (x, y); we can add, multiply etc. them too.
Hamilton was looking for triples that would work as "numbers". (Hence his daughter's question.) Well, they don't but quadruples do, and those are the quaternions. But multiplication is not commutatative for quaternions.
We also have 8-tuples, the octonions. They have neither commutativity nor associativity.
From memory, hope I remembered right....
posted by phliar at 3:35 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Hamilton was looking for triples that would work as "numbers". (Hence his daughter's question.) Well, they don't but quadruples do, and those are the quaternions. But multiplication is not commutatative for quaternions.
We also have 8-tuples, the octonions. They have neither commutativity nor associativity.
From memory, hope I remembered right....
posted by phliar at 3:35 PM on August 1, 2016 [2 favorites]
Math nerds have significant overlap with music nerds, this is not news. The accapella was just showing off.
I would pay cash-money for a video of Miranda watching this for the first time. There has to be at least four falling out of the chair and flopping around going "OHHHHH!!!" moments in there for him. "And me? I adapted him to work with quantum!"
More satisfying, I think, is that they have identified the formula in his work for explaining the struggles and impact of real people doing intensely important things that are hard for laypeople to understand.
(E. F. Codd's opening line would be sung "Relational Database! Re-la-tion-al Data-base!")
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:53 PM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
I would pay cash-money for a video of Miranda watching this for the first time. There has to be at least four falling out of the chair and flopping around going "OHHHHH!!!" moments in there for him. "And me? I adapted him to work with quantum!"
More satisfying, I think, is that they have identified the formula in his work for explaining the struggles and impact of real people doing intensely important things that are hard for laypeople to understand.
(E. F. Codd's opening line would be sung "Relational Database! Re-la-tion-al Data-base!")
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:53 PM on August 1, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't understand it but it's charming, clever, diversely cast, and nicely done.
posted by matildaben at 7:25 PM on August 1, 2016
posted by matildaben at 7:25 PM on August 1, 2016
I wish I was smart enough to understand this, but it sounds impressive.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:45 AM on August 2, 2016
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:45 AM on August 2, 2016
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posted by Captain_Science at 5:52 AM on August 1, 2016