Tait began to correspond with Hamilton in August 1858 and, in reply to Hamilton 's question as to how he had stated to work with quaternions, Tait wrote to Hamilton on 7 December 1858 (see for example):
Tait ay nagsimulang sumulat sa Hamilton sa Agosto 1858 at, sa reply sa Hamilton 's katanungan sa kung paano niya nakalagay sa trabaho sa quaternions, Tait wrote sa Hamilton sa 7 Disyembre 1858 (tingnan ang halimbawa):