X-Nico

unusual facts about vector calculus


Vector calculus

Vector calculus was developed from quaternion analysis by J. Willard Gibbs and Oliver Heaviside near the end of the 19th century, and most of the notation and terminology was established by Gibbs and Edwin Bidwell Wilson in their 1901 book, Vector Analysis.


Bivector

Around this time Josiah Willard Gibbs and Oliver Heaviside developed vector calculus, which included separate cross product and dot products that were derived from quaternion multiplication.


see also

Helmholtz theorem

Helmholtz decomposition, also known as the fundamental theorem of vector calculus