The Quaternion Group Q8

History And Background

The discovery of the quaternions is one of the most well documented discoveries in mathematics.
In general, it is very rare that the date and location of a major mathematical discovery are known.
In the case of quaternions, however, we know that they were discovered by the Irish
mathematician, William Rowan Hamilton on October 16th, 1843.

Hamilton wanted to extend the complex numbers to a new algebraic structure with each element
consisting of one real part and two distinct imaginary parts. This would be known as the Theory
of Triplets.

Hamilton was guided, as well, by a desire to use these triplets to represent rotations in three-
dimensional space, just like complex numbers could be used to represent rotations in the two-
dimensional plane. Hamilton worked unsuccessfully at creating this algebra for over 10 years,
and finally had a breakthrough on October 16th, 1843 while on a walk with his wife, Lady
Hamilton.

They had been walking along the Royal Canal in Dublin when it occurred to Hamilton that his
new algebra would require three rather than two imaginary parts. In order to do this, he could
create a new algebraic structure consisting of one real part and three imaginary parts i, j, and k.
For this new structure to work, Hamilton realized that these new imaginary elements would have
to satisfy the following conditions

i2 = j2 = k2 = ijk = -1:
 Figure 1

Hamilton carved these results on the nearby Broome Bridge. Unfortunately the carvings no
longer remain today. However, his discovery was so significant that every year on October 16th,
the Mathematics Department of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, holds a Hamilton
Walk to Broome Bridge commemorating his discovery.

Introduction

To better understand and appreciate the discovery of quaternions, it is important to understand

them as an algebraic structure.. Quaternions, often denoted by H, being algebraic structures can
thus be formed into groups, rings and fields.

I. Quaternions as Groups

Definition 1.1: The quaternion group, Q8, is a 2-group defined by

Q8={1 ,−1 ,i ,−i , j ,− j ,k ,−k }

The "numbers" j and k individually act like i=√−1, because i 2= j2 =k 2=−1 . Multiplication of
{± i ,± j , ± k } works like the cross product of unit vectors in R3 :

ij=k , jk=i , ki= j , ji=−k , kj=−i, ik=− j.

The product is computed as follows:

1 ⋅ a=a ⋅ 1=a , for all a ∈ Q8

(−1)⋅ a=a⋅(−1)=−a , for all a ∈ Q8
i⋅i= j ⋅ j=k ⋅ k=−1

i⋅ j=k , j⋅i=−k
j⋅k =i ,k ⋅ j=−i
k ⋅ i= j ,i ⋅k=− j

Here are two other possible presentations for this group:

Q8= ⟨ é , i, j , k ∣ é =e ,i = j =k =ijk=é ⟩ ,
2 2 2 2

Q8= ⟨ a ,b ∣ a =e , a =b , ba=a b ⟩ .
4 2 2 −1

Cayley’s Table

The multiplication table for   is illustrated below, where rows and columns are given in the
order  ,  ,  ,  , 1,  ,  ,  . We have

Figure 2 : Colored coded Cayleys Table of Q8

Properties and subgroups of Q8

 The quaternion group is the smallest non-Abelian group with all proper subgroups being
Abelian.
 Q8 is a non-cyclic group whose all proper subgroups are cyclic

 Moreover, the quaternion group is the only group whose all proper subgroups are Abelian
and normal.
 Lagrange's theorem implies that every genuine subgroup of Q8 must be of order 2 or 4 .
 It is the smallest Hamiltonian Group, that are groups whose every subgroup is normal.
 Every Hamiltonian Group contains a copy of Q8

The proper subgroups of Q8 are as follows:

H 1={1 }=⟨ 1 ⟩
H 2 ={± 1}=⟨ −1 ⟩
H 3={± 1 ,± i}=⟨ i ⟩=⟨ −i ⟩
H 4={±1 , ± j}=⟨ j ⟩=⟨− j ⟩
H 5={±1 , ± k }=⟨ k ⟩=⟨ −k ⟩

The subgroups H 1 to H 5 are cyclic and therefore Abelian.

Figure 3
Since Q8 has all normal subgroups we have a total of six Quotient Groups

Groups Isomorphic to subgroups of Q8

The function φ :Q8 →V defined by

φ :± 1( I) ↦e ,± i(J )↦ a ,± j( K ) ↦b , ± k ( L)↦ c=ba .

Because φ is an epimorphism with kernel {1,-1}, we get a natural one-to-one correspondence

between the quotient group of Q8/{1,-1} and the Klein-Four group V :

Figure 4: Structure of Q8 and V

Q8 as Permutations

The isomorphism between these two forms is given by the rules:

2
i↦ a , j ↦b , k ↦ ba ,−1↦ a .

The group Q8 can be also given in terms of permutations as a subgroup of the group S8 .
It is generated by permutations

a=(1234 )(5678) and

b=(1537)(2846) .
Then a 2=b2=(13)(24)(57)(68),
 3
a =(1432)(5876),
b 3=(1735)(2648),
ab=( 1836)(2745) and
ba=(1538)(2547).

Matrix Representation of Q8

Let G Ln (R) be the set of invertible n × n matrices with real-valued entries. It is easy to see that
this is a group under multiplication.
Recall the quaternion group Q8= ⟨ i , j , k ∣ i2 = j 2=k 2=−1 ,ij=k ⟩ .
The following set of 8 matrices forms an isomorphic group under multiplication, where I is the
4 × 4 identity matrix:

{ [ ][ ][ ]}
0 −1 0 0 0 0 −1 0 0 0 0 −1
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 −1 0
± I ,± ,± ,± .
0 0 0 −1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 −1 0 0 1 0 0 0

Formally, we have an embedding ϕ :Q8 → GL 4 ( R) where

ϕ (i)=¿

We say that Q8 is represented by a set of matrices

Class Equation Of Q8

The class equation is given by

r
¿ G∨¿∨Z(G)∨+ ∑ ❑|G:C G ( gi )|
i=1

Where the center of Q8 Z(G)={e , é }∧,∨Z (G)=2

Moreover the following table illustrates the conjugacy classes of Q8

which implies that

∑ ❑|G :C G ( g i )|=2+2+2=6
i=1

Hence

¿ G∨¿ 2+6=8

Rotations Of Q8

One of the Easiest and the most applicable property of the quaternions is that can describe
rotations in 3-dimensional space.

To understand how this is done let us describe the action of the three generators i , j, and k . The
generator i simply acts as a 30∘ rotation of the cube:

Figure 5 action of i
The generator j does something interesting: it switches the top and bottom of the cube, while
also rotating them 180∘ degrees relative to one another. The following picture shows this
operation.

Figure 6 action of j

Since k −ij, the action of k is simply the action of i followed by the action of j . This turns out to
be a transformation that's somewhat similar to j .

Figure 7 action of k

More generally, each of the eight elements of Qs can be obtained as follows:

1. Either flip the cube over (for j ,− j , k , and −k ) or don't (for 1 ,i ,−1 , and −i ).
2. If you flipped the cube over, rotate the top layer 180∘.
3. Finally, rotate the entire cube a multiple of 30∘ around the vertical axis.
 II. Quaternions Ring

Definition 1.2:- A non-empty set

Q8= { a+bi +cj+ dk ∣ a , b , c , d ∈ R , i 2= j 2=k 2=−1 , ij }=k , jk=i ,ki= j , ji=−k , kj=−i, ik=− j },

where R is any ring, is the ring as The set Q8

1 is an abelian group under addition.

2 is a semi group under multiplication.

3 satisfies left and right distributive properties.

And this ring is known as quaternion ring.

III. Quaternion Field

Definition 1.3: A non-empty set

Q8= { a+bi+cj+ dk ∣ a , b , c , d ∈ F ,i 2= j 2=k 2=−1, ij=k , jk=i , ki ¿ j , ji=−k , kj =−i, ik=− j,

where F is a field },

is a skew field as the set Q8

1 is an abelian group under addition.

2 is a semi group under multiplication.

3 satisfies left and right distributive properties.

 We have the multiplicative identity of  ( Q8 , )  is 1=1+ 0(i+ j+k )

 with the inverse of  a=1 /a ∀ a ≠ 0 . 
 and inverse of  a+bi=(a−bi )/ ( a +b )  where either a or b is nonzero. 
2 2

 and inverse of a +bi +cj=( a−bi−cj)/ ( a +b +c )  where either a,b or c is nonzero. 

2 2 2

 and inverse of  a+bi+cj+ dk=(a−bi−cj−dk )/ ( a +b + c +d )  where either  a , b , c  or d  is nonzero. 
2 2 2 2
Since every element of Q8 has its inverse in Q8 , Q 8 is a division ring as Q8 is non-abelian.
Therefore,
Q8 is a skew field. This is to be called Quaternion field.

Application Of Quaternions

The quaternions have found use in a wide variety of research.

• They can be used to express the Lorentz Transform making them useful for work on
Special and General Relativity.

• One of the Easiest and the most applicable property of the quaternions is that can
describe rotations in 3-dimensional space.

• The most widespread use of quaternions to date is in computer animation; there, they are
used to represent transformations of orientations of graphical objects. They provide an
elegant solution to problems that plagued early animated programs.

• Another application of quaternions is in electric toothbrushes. Tooth brushing is a blind

process, you cannot easily see what you are doing or gauge the results of brushing.
Quaternions have been used in the design of a system that tracks the position of a
toothbrush in the mouth relative to the user’s teeth. It automatically compensates for
movements of the head during brushing.

• In organic compounds such as cyclooctatetraene (C 8 H 8 ) and cyclooctane ( C H 2 ) 8. We can

relate with a closed figure with 8 vertices where every Carbon can be compared with a
distinct element of Q8.
 Fig 8: Cyclooctane ( C H 2 ) 8 Fig 9 Cyclooctatetraene (C 8 H 8 )

• We can relate with a closed figure with 8 vertices where every Carbon can be compared
with a distinct element of Q8.
References:

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