A Universal Exponential Law for Real Alternative Algebras and its Geometric Applications
- Publicado
- Servidor
- Zenodo
- DOI
- 10.5281/zenodo.17575548
Euler's identity and De~Moivre's formula describe rotations generated by an imaginary unit satisfying . In associative and alternative hypercomplex algebras, however, arbitrary elements need not square to , the exponential map may lose geometric meaning, and fractional powers often lack closed forms. This paper systematizes existing exponential formulas into a unified algorithmic framework with computational advantages.F admits a two-term Euler-type fractional power: \emph{ has a closed form if and only if is a nonzero real scalar}. When we obtain the elliptic (rotation) formula with \[ A^x = \alpha^x\!\left[\cos\Bigl(\tfrac{\pi x}{2}\Bigr) + E\sin\Bigl(\tfrac{\pi x}{2}\Bigr)\right], \qquad E=\frac{A}{\sqrt{-A^2}},\; E^2=-1, \] extending Euler and De~Moivre to all alternative algebras, including quaternions and octonions. When , we obtain the symmetric hyperbolic (boost) formula \[ A^x = \alpha^x\!\left[\cosh\Bigl(\tfrac{\pi x}{2}\Bigr) + H\sinh\Bigl(\tfrac{\pi x}{2}\Bigr)\right], \qquad H=\frac{A}{\sqrt{A^2}},\; H^2=+1, \] which covers split-quaternions and other hyperbolic directions. Both formulas follow from the principal logarithm on the generated -- plane and remain valid for all real fractional exponents. A collapse identity is proved: \[ A^{A x}= \exp(A^2\pi x/2), \] giving the classical and its hyperbolic analogues as special cases. When or is a zero divisor (as in the sedenions), the two-term formulas fail exactly, giving a precise obstruction. This yields an algorithmic framework for fractional exponentiation in all Cayley--Dickson and split algebras: test , normalize, and apply the elliptic or hyperbolic closed form when allowed. Applications include hypercomplex cyclotomy, Galois actions along arbitrary imaginary directions, and rotation/boost operators in higher dimensions. All claims are supported by independent numerical validation, with reproducible code provided. Critically, we demonstrate that this algebraic approach eliminates the need for the computationally expensive \texttt{arctan2} function required by standard polar decomposition methods. Benchmarking against standard library implementations reveals a mean computational speedup of approximately times faster for quaternion roots than SciPy Rotation as standard library, attributed to the replacement of transcendental inverse trigonometric functions with hardware-accelerated algebraic operations. Numerical validation confirms that this performance gain incurs no penalty in accuracy, maintaining machine precision () and exhibiting superior stability near the identity element. This method offers a unified, high-performance primitive for geometric rotations in computer graphics, robotics, and hypercomplex neural networks.