William Rowan Hamilton is more numerically stable than combining many matrix transformations. In control and modelling applications, quaternions do not have a computational singularity (undefined division by zero) that can occur for quarter-turn rotations (90 degrees) that are achievable by many Air, Sea and Space vehicles. In pure mathematics, quaternions show up significantly as one of the four finite-dimensional normed division algebras over the real numbers, with applications throughout algebra and geometry. It is believed by some modern mathematicians that Hamilton's work on quaternions was satirized by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in Alice in Wonderland. In particular, the Mad Hatter's tea party was meant
Skeffington Lutwidge returned to Britain to be refitted and re-coppered in early 1779, after which she returned to North America, capturing the American privateer "Gates" on 29 September 1779. He was involved in the capture of a Spanish convoy on 8 January 1780, and on the night of 16 and 17 January Lutwidge was part of Admiral George Rodney's fleet against Juan de Lángara at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent. His final duties with the "Triton" were to escort a convoy to Menorca and then to the Leeward Islands. Lutwidge then briefly took command of the 74-gun third rate and sailed