In mathematics, the quaternions form a number system similar to the complex numbers, with the usual arithmetical operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but with four real-number components instead of two. Unlike with the complex numbers, quaternion multiplication is not commutative, meaning that the result of multiplying two quaternions depends on their order. Quaternions can be used to represent vectors in three-dimensional space, which provides a definition of the quotient of two vectors.