What properties do we lose as we go from real numbers to quaternions, then to octonions? Do any new properties arise, or do calculations just become more "path dependant"?
Properties lost when going from real number system to quaternions and octonions
complex numbersoctonionsquaternionsreal numbers
Best Answer
From reals to complex you lose order. From complex to quaternions you lose commutativity. From quaternions to octonions you lose associativity. From octonions to ..?
I had written this as a comment, then I followed Noah Schweber's link, which essentially says this plus more. And pregunton's answer is meaty.
What specific algebraic properties are broken at each Cayley-Dickson stage beyond octonions?
EDIT: Bcpicao's comment led me to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayley%E2%80%93Dickson_construction
a fabulous link.