Solving triangles algebraically

Abstract

Quaterns are a new measure of rotation. Since they are defined in terms of rect-angular coordinates, all of the analogue trigonometric functions become algebraic rather than transcendental. Rotations, angle sums and differences, vector sums, cross and dot products, etc., all become algebraic. Triangles can be solved algebraically. Computer algorithms use truncated infinite sums for the transcendental calculations of these quantities. If rotations were expressed in quaterns, these calculations would be simplified by a few orders of magnitude. This would have the potential to greatly reduce computing time. The archaic Greek letter koppa is used to represent rotations in quaterns, rather than the traditional Greek letter theta. Because calculations utilizing quaterns are algebraic, simple rotation in the first two quadrants can be done ”by hand” using ”pen and paper.” Using the approximate methods outlined towards the end of the paper, triangles may be approximately solved with an error of less than 3% using algebra and a few simple formulas.