The first group of chapters in this book, beginning with Chapter 1 and ending with Chapter 14, sets forth the fundamental concepts of quaternions, methods of quaternion visualization, and what we consider to be the most basic examples of the ways that quaternions can be used to explain and manipulate the phenomena of 3D orientation.

Although we have attempted to make the chapters in Part I as basic as possible, there are still advanced technical issues of interest to selected readers that are noted from time to time. These paragraphs are denoted with a dagger (†) to indicate that they can be omitted at the discretion of the reader.