Mathematica tools for coquaternions

Abstract

Coquaternions form a four dimensional real algebra generalizing complex numbers and were introduced by James Cockle at about the same time that Hamilton discovered the famous algebra of quaternions. Although not as popular as quaternions, in recent years one can observe an emerging interest among mathematicians and physicists on the study of these numbers. In this work we revisit a Mathematica package for implementing the algebra of coquaternions - Coquaternions - and discuss a set of Mathematica functions - CoqPolynomi al - to deal with coquaternionic polynomials. These two sets of functions provide the basic tools necessary for manipulating coquaternions and unilateral coquaternionic polynomials, reflecting, in its present form, the recent interests of the authors in the area.