4 ms·

The leading theory is they are quaternions. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/26375451.2022.2085446#d1e104 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1

• Chinjut 5mo ago
  These links' mentions of quaternions are about a different part of the book (the tea party). Furthermore, even regarding that different part, your first link explicitly debunks the second link and disavows the quaternion connection the latter alleges. Your first link's whole point is to conclude "it is indeed very unlikely that Dodgson had the quaternions in mind when writing the tea-party chapter."