Notes on the rigid body: inertia tensor, principal axes, Euler angles, and Euler’s equations, with the free symmetric top and the tennis-racket instability worked in full.

For classical mechanics courses after Lagrangian mechanics.

• Inertia tensor and parallel-axis shortcuts
• Euler angles and body-frame kinematics
• Euler’s equations and energy ellipsoids
• Symmetric top and precession
• Exam-style rigid-body problems with solutions