The original equations of Maxwell, apparently were eight equations, but supposedly referred to as 20 because six of them were reproduced as being in three parts. This at least is what I have read so far.
What I am sure of is that the quaternions they were later presented as is an aspect of math that is essentially not taught anymore and that the “semplifications” of Heavyside to Maxwell’s equations did away with the scalar component, which is a fundamental concept that modern EM and gravity theory simply ignores.
So I tried to go look for the original paper of Maxwell. This is the link to the original 1865 paper, though apparently he had mentioned these equations, or at least some in an earlier 1861 paper.
And I am also not clear on whether Maxwell himself originally then changed the equations to quaternion formats, and Heavyside then “simplified” them, reducing them in his attempt to make them more “practical”, or if Heavyside did this to Maxwell’s original equations.
If anyone can clear this up with some proof of the entire history I would be most grateful, as my time in this research is limited.
Here’s a good discussion of how Maxwell presented his equations:
[I have deleted your comment which is a copy of the same one you posted on SG. It doesn’t address the question, it tries to confuse the issue and you deny that Thomas Bearden knew what he was talking about but have yet to mention exactly which of his books you have “read” and gone through “carefully”.
In short, you detract instead of add to the conversation, either intentionally, or narcissistically.]
Thank you for the link! For some reason, I had the misimpression that Maxwell was a German who wrote in German. Happy to learn he’s a Scotsman who wrote in English! I will look at this paper.