Seems Binx is drawing strange symbols as he playfully kicks his feet. What dastardly evil is the little blackcat up to? ... nothing!
That's not Blackmagic it's mathematics! Some may say, "what's the difference", but jokes aside, Binx is studying the "Fano Plane", a diagram that's used to remember how to carry out octonion multiplication. Some onlookers though seem to think there is something nefarious afoot. Being a black cat isn't always easy when furs make ridiculous assumptions but Binx barely pays such things any mind even though he can easily hear anything in a 500 yard radius. But He's content being himself and happy for the furs that do understand him.
The speech bubbles from two gossipy girls just out of view reads: Girl#1:Is he drawing a pentagram?! Girl#2: Maybe it's a transmutation circle! He must be casting a spell on one of his tormentors! Girl#1: It's Blackmagic whatever it is! NEVER cross a blackcat, that's what I always say!
This drawing is for "Inktober" but it's also in honor of October 16th, called "Hamilton Day", which honors William Rohan Hamilton who on October 16th of 1843 came up with the fundamental equations of quaternion multiplication:
i^2=j^2=k^2=ijk=-1
No sooner had Hamilton invented quaternions was he one-upped by his friend, John Graves, who went one algebra further: and invented the Octonions. The octonions are a superset of the quaternions and contain them. In fact the octonions contain 7 copies of the quaternions within them, the so called octonion "triads", which intersect each other in complicated fashion as illustrated in the diagram Binx has drawn. The 7 triads can be seen as the 3 sides of the triangle, the 3 angle bisectors, and the inscribed circle. Multiplying by any two members of a triad results in the third member. No matter which two elements you chose they are guaranteed to be part of one unique triad. Binx finds this fascinating. How about you?
Happy Hamilton Day to all the math lovers out there on IB!
