Rotations

A website devoted to the mathematics of rotations and their applications

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Contents

Below is a complete list of content presented on this site. As tensors are used throughout the following material, we encourage the reader unfamiliar with tensors to first review the provided background on linear algebra.

Representations of rotations

  • An introduction to rotations
  • The simplest rotation
  • Rotations and proper-orthogonal tensors
  • Euler’s representation
  • Relative rotations and their angular velocities
  • The Euler angle parameterization
  • Other representations of a rotation
  • Infinitesimal rotations
  • Some interesting rotation sequences
  • Geodesics of the rotation group SO(3)

Kinematics of rigid bodies

Examples of rigid-body dynamics

  • The double pendulum
  • A book tossed in the air
  • A tumbling T-handle in space: the Dzhanibekov effect
  • The Lagrange top
  • The Poisson top
  • The Poisson top with friction
  • The rolling disk

Tracking and navigation

  • Estimating rotations and translations from optical targets
  • Strapdown inertial navigation
  • Reconstructing the motion of a tossed iPhone
  • Head motion during a vehicle crash

Rotations applied to rods

  • Kinematics of rods
  • The evolution of the directors

Tensors, matrices, and MATLAB

Background on linear algebra

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Site last updated: April 30, 2025

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