[r1chardnl]

If I had to describe Quaternions to someone I would first try to explain a Plane (Ax + By + Cz + D = 0) to them. ABC being a (normal) direction that the Plane is pointed towards and D being the distance from the origin.

A Quaternion from what I believe is just the same but instead of distance it just encodes the rotation around that direction as a fixed axis. (Instead the angle stored is half etc).

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not a math-heavy person.

[adamhartenz]

If you a explaining this to the average American, you are going to have to start a bit further back than a "Plane".

[grg0]

Think of a fraction as a pizza. The bottom number is how many slices the pizza has, and the top number is the slices that you are going to eat. Sally will eat the rest, so you need to leave some for her.

[raincole]

I know it's a tradition to bash Americans, but I'm quite sure in any country, Ax + By + Cz + D = 0 is a plane isn't common sense.

[renox]

I learned it in the mandatory part of school (I'm French) so while I'm sure lots of people have forgotten it, most did learn it at school..

[ge96]

In the beginning... there was nothing...

[xanderlewis]

A plane is just a burrito.

[kmstout]

And monads are like burritos. Therefore, monads are like planes. How shall we represent diverted luggage?

[sundarurfriend]

> A Quaternion from what I believe is just the same but instead of distance it just encodes the rotation around that direction as a fixed axis. (Instead the angle stored is half etc).

The first part kinda makes sense, but I have no idea what the paranthetical is intended to mean.