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Moment of inertia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the mass moment of inertia of a rotating object. For area moment of inertia in

beam bending, see second moment of area.

Tightrope walkerSamuel Dixon using the long rod's moment of inertia for balance while crossing the

Niagara River in 1890.

The moment of inertia, otherwise known as the angular mass or rotational inertia, of a rigid body

determines the torque needed for a desired angular accelerationabout a rotational axis. It depends

on the body's mass distribution and the axis chosen, with larger moments requiring more torque to

change the body's rotation. It is an extensive (additive) property: the moment of inertia of a

composite system is the sum of the moments of inertia of its component subsystems (all taken about

the same axis). One of its definitions is the second moment of mass with respect to distance from an

axis r,

, integrating over the entire mass

.

For bodies constrained to rotate in a plane, it is sufficient to consider their moment of inertia about an

axis perpendicular to the plane. For bodies free to rotate in three dimensions, their moments can be

described by a symmetric 3 3 matrix each body has a set of mutually perpendicular principal axes

for which this matrix is diagonal and torques around the axes act independently of each other.

Introduction[edit]

When a body is rotating, or free to rotate, around an axis, a torquemust be applied to change its
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angular momentum. The amount of torque needed for any given rate of change in angular

momentum is proportional to the moment of inertia of the body. Moment of inertia may be expressed

in terms of kilogram-square metres (kgm ) in SI units and pound-square feet (lb ft ) in imperial or

US units.

Moment of inertia plays the role in rotational kinetics that Mass (inertia) plays in linear kinetics - both

characterize the resistance of a body to changes in its motion. The moment of inertia depends onhow mass is distributed around an axis of rotation, and will vary depending on the chosen axis. For a

point-like mass, the moment of inertia about some axis is given by d m, where d is the distance to the

axis, and m is the mass. For an extended body, the moment of inertia is just the sum of all the small

pieces of mass multiplied by the square of their distances from the axis in question. For an extended

body of a regular shape and uniform density, this summation sometimes produces a simple

expression that depends on the dimensions, shape and total mass of the object.

In 1673 Christiaan Huygensintroduced this parameter in his study of the oscillation of a body

hanging from a pivot, known as a compound pendulum. The term moment of inertiawas introduced

by Leonhard Eulerin his book Theoria motus corporum solidorum seu rigidorum in 1765, and it is

incorporated into Euler's second law.

The natural frequency of oscillation of a compound pendulum is obtained from the ratio of the torque

imposed by gravity on the mass of the pendulum to the resistance to acceleration defined by the

moment of inertia. Comparison of this natural frequency to that of a simple pendulum consisting of a

single point of mass provides a mathematical formulation for moment of inertia of an extended body.

Moment of inertia also appears in momentum, kinetic energy, and in Newton's laws of motion for a

rigid body as a physical parameter that combines its shape and mass. There is an interesting

difference in the way moment of inertia appears in planar and spatial movement. Planar movement

has a single scalar that defines the moment of inertia, while for spatial movement the same

calculations yield a 3 3 matrix of moments of inertia, called the inertia matrix or inertia tensor.

The moment of inertia of a rotating flywheel is used in a machine to resist variations in applied torque

to smooth its rotational output. The moment of inertia of an airplane about its longitudinal, horizontal

and vertical axes determines how steering forces on the control surfaces of its wings, elevators and

tail affect the plane in roll, pitch and yaw.

Moment of inertia I is defined as the ratio of the angular momentumL of a system to its angular

velocity around a principal axis, that is

If the angular momentum of a system is constant, then as the moment of inertia gets smaller, the

angular velocity must increase. This occurs when spinning figure skaterspull in their outstretched

arms or divers move from a straight position to a tuck position during a dive.

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If the shape of the body does not change, then its moment of inertia appears in Newton's law of

motion as the ratio of an applied torque on a body to the angular acceleration around a principal

axis, that is

For a simple pendulum, this definition yields a formula for the moment of inertia I in terms of the

mass mof the pendulum and its distance r from the pivot point as,

Thus, moment of inertia depends on both the mass mof a body and its geometry, or shape, as

defined by the distance r to the axis of rotation.

This simple formula generalizes to define moment of inertia for an arbitrarily shaped body as the sum

of all the elemental point masses dmeach multiplied by the square of its perpendicular distance r to

an axis S .

In general, given an object of mass m, an effective radius k can be defined for an axis through its

center of mass, with such a value that its moment of inertia is

where k is known as the radius of gyration.

Simple pendulum[edit]

Moment of inertia can be measured using a simple pendulum, because it is the resistance to the

rotation caused by gravity. Mathematically, the moment of inertia of the pendulum is the ratio of the

torque due to gravity about the pivot of a pendulum to its angular acceleration about that pivot point.

For a simple pendulum this is found to be the product of the mass of the particle m with the square of

its distance r to the pivot, that is

This can be shown as follows: The force of gravity on the mass of a simple pendulum generates a

torque

around the axis perpendicular to the plane of the pendulum movement. Here ris the distance vector

perpendicular to and from the force to the torque axis. Here F is the tangential component of the net

force on the mass. Associated with this torque is an angular acceleration,

, of the string and mass around this axis. Since the mass is constrained to a circle the tangential

acceleration of the mass is

. Since
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the torque equation becomes:

where e is a unit vector perpendicular to the plane of the pendulum. (The second to the last step

occurs because of the BAC-CAB ruleusing the fact that

is always perpendicular to r.) The quantity I = mr is the moment of inertiaof this single mass around

the pivot point.

The quantity I = mr also appears in the angular momentumof a simple pendulum, which is

calculated from the velocity v = r of the pendulum mass around the pivot, where is the angular

velocityof the mass about the pivot point. This angular momentum is given by

using math similar to that used to derive the previous equation.

Similarly, the kinetic energy of the pendulum mass is defined by the velocity of the pendulum around

the pivot to yield

This shows that the quantity I = mr is how mass combines with the shape of a body to define

rotational inertia. The moment of inertia of an arbitrarily shaped body is the sum of the values mr for

all of the elements of mass in the body.

Compound pendulum[edit]

A compound pendulumis a body formed from an assembly of particles of continuous shape that

rotates rigidly around a pivot. Its moment of inertia is the sum of the moments of inertia of each of the

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particles that it is composed of. The naturalfrequency (

) of a compound pendulum depends on its moment of inertia,

,

where

is the mass of the object,

is local acceleration of gravity, and

is the distance from the pivot point to the centre of mass of the object. Measuring this frequency of

oscillation over small angular displacements provides an effective way of measuring moment of

inertia of a body.

Thus, to determine the moment of inertia of the body, simply suspend it from a convenient pivot point

so that it swings freely in a plane perpendicular to the direction of the desired moment of inertia, then

measure its natural frequency or period of oscillation (

), to obtain

where

is the period (duration) of oscillation (usually averaged over multiple periods).

The moment of inertia of the body about its centre of mass,

, is then calculated using the parallel axis theorem to be

where

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is the mass of the body and

is the distance from the pivot point

to the centre of mass

.

Moment of inertia of a body is often defined in terms of its radius of gyration, which is the radius of a

ring of equal mass around the centre of mass of a body that has the same moment of inertia. The

radius of gyration

is calculated from the body's moment of inertia

and mass

as the length,

Center of oscillation[edit]

A simple pendulum that has the same natural frequency as a compound pendulum defines the length

from the pivot to a point called the centre of oscillationof the compound pendulum. This point also

corresponds to the centre of percussion. The length

is determined from the formula,

or

The seconds pendulum, which provides the "tick" and "tock" of a grandfather clock, takes one second

to swing from side-to-side. This is a period of two seconds, or a natural frequency of

radians/second for the pendulum. In this case, the distance to the center of oscillation,

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, can be computed to be

Notice that the distance to the center of oscillation of the seconds pendulum must be adjusted to

accommodate different values for the local acceleration of gravity. Kater's pendulum is a compoundpendulum that uses this property to measure the local acceleration of gravity, and is called a

gravimeter.

Measuring moment of inertia[edit]

The moment of inertia of complex systems such as a vehicle or airplane around its vertical axis can

be measured by suspending the system from three points to form a trifilar pendulum. A trifilar

pendulum is a platform supported by three wires designed to oscillate in torsion around its verticalcentroidal axis. The period of oscillation of the trifilar pendulum yields the moment of inertia of the

system.

Calculating moment of inertia about an axis[edit]

The moment of inertia about an axis of a body is calculated by summing mr for every particle in the

body, where r is the perpendicular distance to the specified axis. To see how moment of inertia arises

in the study of the movement of an extended body, it is convenient to consider a rigid assembly of

point masses. (This equation can be used for axes that are not principal axes provided that it is

understood that this does not fully describe the moment of inertia. )

Consider the kinetic energy of an assembly of N masses m that lie at the distances r from the pivot

point P, which is the nearest point on the axis of rotation. It is the sum of the kinetic energy of the

individual masses,

This shows that the moment of inertia of the body is the sum of each of the mr terms, that is

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Thus, moment of inertia is a physical property that combines the mass and distribution of the

particles around the rotation axis. Notice that rotation about different axes of the same body yield

different moments of inertia.

The moment of inertia of a continuous body rotating about a specified axis is calculated in the same

way, except with infinitely many point particles. Thus the limits of summation are removed, and the

sum is written as follows:

Another expression replaces the summation with an integral,

Here, the function gives the mass density at each point (x, y, z), r is a vector perpendicular to the

axis of rotation and extending from a point on the rotation axis to a point (x, y, z) in the solid, and the

integration is evaluated over the volume V of the body Q. The moment of inertia of a flat surface is

similar with the mass density being replaced by its areal mass density with the integral evaluated over

its area.

Note on second moment of area: The moment of inertia of a body moving in a plane and thesecond moment of area of a beam's cross-section are often confused. The moment of inertia of body

with the shape of the cross-section is the second moment of this area about the z-axis perpendicular

to the cross-section, weighted by its density. This is also called thepolar moment of the area, and is

the sum of the second moments about the x and y axes. The stresses in a beamare calculated

using the second moment of the cross-sectional area around either the x-axis or y-axis depending on

the load.

The moment of inertia of a compound pendulumconstructed from a thin disc mounted at the end

of a thin rod that oscillates around a pivot at the other end of the rod, begins with the calculation of

the moment of inertia of the thin rod and thin disc about their respective centres of mass.

The moment of inertia of a thin rodwith constant cross-section s and density and with length

about a perpendicular axis through its centre of mass is determined by integration. Align

the x-axis with the rod and locate the origin its centre of mass at the centre of the rod, then

where m =s is the mass of the rod.

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The moment of inertia of a thin discof constant thickness s, radius R, and density about an

axis through its centre and perpendicular to its face (parallel to its axis of rotational symmetry) is

determined by integration. Align the z-axis with the axis of the disc and define a volume

element as dV = sr drd, then

where m = R s is its mass.

The moment of inertia of the compound pendulum is now obtained by adding the moment of

inertia of the rod and the disc around the pivot point P as,

where L is the length of the pendulum. Notice that the parallel axis theorem is used to shift the

moment of inertia from the centre of mass to the pivot point of the pendulum.

A list of moments of inertia formulas for standard body shapes provides a way to obtain the moment

of inertial of a complex body as an assembly of simpler shaped bodies. The parallel axis theorem is

used to shift the reference point of the individual bodies to the reference point of the assembly.

As one more example, consider the moment of inertia of a solid sphere of constant density about anaxis through its centre of mass. This is determined by summing the moments of inertia of the thin

discs that form the sphere. If the surface of the ball is defined by the equation

then the radius rof the disc at the cross-section z along the z-axis is

Therefore, the moment of inertia of the ball is the sum of the moments of inertia of the discs along

the z-axis,

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where m =

Moment of inertia in planar movement of a rigid body[edit]

If a mechanical systemis constrained to move parallel to a fixed plane, then the rotation of a body in

the system occurs around an axis kperpendicular to this plane. In this case, the moment of inertia of

the mass in this system is a scalar known as thepolar moment of inertia. The definition of the polar

moment of inertia can be obtained by considering momentum, kinetic energy and Newton's laws for

the planar movement of a rigid system of particles.

If a system of n particles, P, i = 1,...,n, are assembled into a rigid body, then the momentum of the

system can be written in terms of positions relative to a reference point R, and absolute velocities v

where is the angular velocity of the system and V is the velocity of R.

For planar movement the angular velocity vector is directed along the unit vector k which is

perpendicular to the plane of movement. Introduce the unit vectors e from the reference point R to a

point r , and the unit vector t = k e so

This defines the relative position vector and the velocity vector for the rigid system of the particles

moving in a plane.

Note on the cross product: When a body moves parallel to a ground plane, the trajectories of all

the points in the body lie in planes parallel to this ground plane. This means that any rotation that the

body undergoes must be around an axis perpendicular to this plane. Planar movement is often

presented as projected onto this ground plane so that the axis of rotation appears as a point. In this

case, the angular velocity and angular acceleration of the body are scalars and the fact that they are

vectors along the rotation axis is ignored. This is usually preferred for introductions to the topic. But in

the case of moment of inertia, the combination of mass and geometry benefits from the geometric

properties of the cross product. For this reason, in this section on planar movement the angular

velocity and accelerations of the body are vectors perpendicular to the ground plane, and the cross

product operations are the same as used for the study of spatial rigid body movement.

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Angular momentum in planar movement[edit]

The angular momentum vector for the planar movement of a rigid system of particles is given by

Use the centre of massC as the reference point so

and define the moment of inertia relative to the centre of mass I as

then the equation for angular momentum simplifies to

The moment of inertia I about an axis perpendicular to the movement of the rigid system and

through the centre of mass is known as thepolar moment of inertia.

For a given amount of angular momentum, a decrease in the moment of inertia results in an increase

in the angular velocity. Figure skaters can change their moment of inertia by pulling in their arms.

Thus, the angular velocity achieved by a skater with outstretched arms results in a greater angular

velocity when the arms are pulled in, because of the reduced moment of inertia.

Kinetic energy in planar movement[edit]

The kinetic energy of a rigid system of particles moving in the plane is given by

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This equation expands to yield three terms

Let the reference point be the centre of mass Cof the system so the second term becomes zero, and

introduce the moment of inertia I so the kinetic energy is given by

The moment of inertia I is thepolar moment of inertia of the body.

Newton's laws for planar movement[edit]

Newton's laws for a rigid system of N particles, P, i = 1,..., N, can be written in terms of a resultant

force and torque at a reference point R, to yield

where rdenotes the trajectory of each particle.

The kinematics of a rigid body yields the formula for the acceleration of the particle P in terms of the

position Rand acceleration Aof the reference particle as well as the angular velocity vector and

angular acceleration vector of the rigid system of particles as,

For systems that are constrained to planar movement, the angular velocity and angular acceleration

vectors are directed along kperpendicular to the plane of movement, which simplifies this

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acceleration equation. In this case, the acceleration vectors can be simplified by introducing the unit

vectors e from the reference point R to a point rand the unit vectors t = k e , so

This yields the resultant torque on the system as

where e e = 0, and e t = k is the unit vector perpendicular to the plane for all of the particles P .

Use the centre of massC as the reference point and define the moment of inertia relative to the

centre of mass I , then the equation for the resultant torque simplifies to

The parameter I is thepolar moment of inertia of the moving body.

The inertia matrix for spatial movement of a rigid body[edit]

The scalar moments of inertia appear as elements in a matrix when a system of particles is

assembled into a rigid body that moves in three-dimensional space. This inertia matrix appears in the

calculation of the angular momentum, kinetic energy and resultant torque of the rigid system of

particles.

An important application of the inertia matrix and Newton's laws of motion is the analysis of a

spinning top. This is discussed in the article on gyroscopic precession. A more detailed presentation

can be found in the article on Euler's equations of motion.

Let the system of particles P, i = 1,..., nbe located at the coordinates r with velocities v relative to a

fixed reference frame. For a (possibly moving) reference point R, the relative positions are

and the (absolute) velocities are

where is the angular velocity of the system, and V is the velocity of R.

Angular momentum[edit]

If the reference point R in the assembly, or body, is chosen as the centre of mass C, then its angular

momentum takes the form,

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where the terms containing V sum to zero by definition of the centre of mass.

To define the inertia matrix, let us first note that a skew-symmetric matrix [B] could be constructed

from a vector b that performs the cross product operation, such that

This matrix [B] has the components of b = (b , b ,b ) as its elements, in the form

Now construct the skew-symmetric matrix [r ]= [r -C] obtained from the relative position vector r=r -

C, and use this skew-symmetric matrix to define,

where [I ] defined by

is the symmetric inertia matrix of the rigid system of particles measured relative to the centre of mass

C.

Kinetic energy[edit]

The kinetic energy of a rigid system of particles can be formulated in terms of the centre of mass and

a matrix of mass moments of inertia of the system. Let the system of particles P, i = 1,...,nbe located

at the coordinates r with velocities v , then the kinetic energy is

where r= r-C is the position vector of a particle relative to the centre of mass.

This equation expands to yield three terms

The second term in this equation is zero because C is the centre of mass. Introduce the skew-

symmetric matrix [r ] so the kinetic energy becomes

R

x y z

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i i

i
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Thus, the kinetic energy of the rigid system of particles is given by

where [I ] is the inertia matrix relative to the centre of mass and M is the total mass.

Resultant torque[edit]

The inertia matrix appears in the application of Newton's second law to a rigid assembly of particles.

The resultant torque on this system is,

where a is the acceleration of the particle P. The kinematicsof a rigid body yields the formula for the

acceleration of the particle P in terms of the position Rand acceleration A of the reference point, as

well as the angular velocity vector and angular acceleration vector of the rigid system as,

Use the centre of mass C as the reference point, and introduce the skew-symmetric matrix [r ]=[r -C]

to represent the cross product (r - C)x, to obtain

The calculation uses the identity

obtained from the Jacobi identity for the triple cross productas shown in the proof below:

The inertia matrix of a body depends on the choice of the reference point. There is a useful

relationship between the inertia matrix relative to the centre of mass Cand the inertia matrix relative

to another point R. This relationship is called the parallel axis theorem.

Consider the inertia matrix [I ] obtained for a rigid system of particles measured relative to a

reference point R, given by

C

[3][6]

i i

i

i i

i

[3][6]

R
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Let Cbe the centre of mass of the rigid system, then

where d is the vector from the centre of mass C to the reference point R. Use this equation to

compute the inertia matrix,

Expand this equation to obtain

The first term is the inertia matrix [I ] relative to the centre of mass. The second and third terms are

zero by definition of the centre of mass C. And the last term is the total mass of the system multiplied

by the square of the skew-symmetric matrix [d] constructed from d.

The result is the parallel axis theorem,

where d is the vector from the centre of mass C to the reference point R.

Note on the minus sign: By using the skew symmetric matrix of position vectors relative to the

reference point, the inertia matrix of each particle has the form m[r] , which is similar to the mr that

appears in planar movement. However, to make this to work out correctly a minus sign is needed.

This minus sign can be absorbed into the term m[r] [r], if desired, by using the skew-symmetry

property of [r].

The inertia matrix and the scalar moment of inertia around an

arbitrary axis[edit]

The scalar moment of inertia, I , of a body about a specified axis whose direction is specified by the

unit vector S and passes through the body at a point R is as follows:

where [I ] is the moment of inertia matrix of the system relative to the reference point R.

This is derived as follows. Let a rigid assembly of N particles, P, i = 1,...,N, have coordinates r.

Choose R as a reference point and compute the moment of inertia around an axis L defined by the

unit vector S through the reference point R. The moment of inertia of the system around this line

C

2 2

T

L

[6]

R

i i
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L=R+tS is computed by determining the perpendicular vector from this axis to the particle P given by

where [I] is the identity matrix and [SS ] is the outer product matrix formed from the unit vector S

along the line L.

To relate this scalar moment of inertia to the inertia matrix of the body, introduce the skew-symmetricmatrix [S] such that [S]y=S x y, then we have the identity

which relies on the fact that S is a unit vector.

The magnitude squared of the perpendicular vector is

The simplification of this equation uses the identity

where the dot and the cross products have been interchanged. Expand the cross products to

compute

where [r ] is the skew symmetric matrix obtained from the vector r=r-R.

Thus, the moment of inertia around the line L through R in the direction S is obtained from the

calculation

or

where [I ] is the moment of inertia matrix of the system relative to the reference point R.

This shows that the inertia matrix can be used to calculate the moment of inertia of a body around

any specified rotation axis in the body.

The inertia tensor[edit]

The inertia matrix is often described as the inertia tensor, which consists of the same moments of

inertia and products of inertia about the three coordinate axes. The inertia tensor is constructed

from the nine component tensors, (the symbol

i

T

i i

R

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is the tensor product)

where e , i=1,2,3 are the three orthogonal unit vectorsdefining the inertial frame in which the body

moves. Using this basis the inertia tensor is given by

This tensor is of degree two because the component tensors are each constructed from two basis

vectors. In this form the inertia tensor is also called the inertia binor.

For a rigid system of particles P, k = 1,...,N each of mass m with position coordinates r=(x , y , z ),

the inertia tensor is given by

where E is the identity tensor

The inertia tensor for a continuous body is given by

where rdefines the coordinates of a point in the body and (r) is the mass density at that point. The

integral is taken over the volume Vof the body. The inertia tensor is symmetric because I = I .

Alternatively it can also be written in terms of the hat operator as:

The inertia tensor can be used in the same way as the inertia matrix to compute the scalar moment

of inertia about an arbitrary axis in the direction n,

where the dot product is taken with the corresponding elements in the component tensors. A product

of inertia term such as I is obtained by the computation

and can be interpreted as the moment of inertia around the x-axis when the object rotates around the

y-axis.

i

k k k k k k

ij ji

12
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The components of tensors of degree two can be assembled into a matrix. For the inertia tensor this

matrix is given by,

It is common in rigid body mechanics to use notation that explicitly identifies the x, y, and z axes, such

as I and I , for the components of the inertia tensor.

Identities for a skew-symmetric matrix[edit]

To compute moment of inertia of a mass around an axis, the perpendicular vector from the mass to

the axis is needed. If the axis L is defined by the unit vector S through the reference point R, then the

perpendicular vector from the line L to the point r is given by

where [I] is the identity matrix and [SS ] is the outer product matrix formed from the unit vector S

along the line L. Recall that skew-symmetric matrix [S] is constructed so that [S] y=S x y. The matrix

[I-SS ] in this equation subtracts the component of r=r-Rthat is parallel to S.

The previous sections show that in computing the moment of inertia matrix this operator yields a

similar operator using the components of the vector r that is

It is helpful to keep the following identities in mind to compare the equations that define the inertia

tensor and the inertia matrix.

Let [R] be the skew symmetric matrix associated with the position vector R=(x, y, z), then the product

in the inertia matrix becomes

This can be viewed as another way of computing the perpendicular distance from an axis to a point,

because the matrix formed by the outer product [RR ] yields the identify

where [I] is the 3x3 identity matrix.

Also notice, that

xx xy

T

T

T
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where trdenotes the sum of the diagonal elements of the outer product matrix, known as its trace.

The inertia matrix in different reference frames[edit]

The use of the inertia matrix in Newton's second law assumes its components are computed relative

to axes parallel to the inertial frame and not relative to a body-fixed reference frame. This means

that as the body moves the components of the inertia matrix change with time. In contrast, the

components of the inertia matrix measured in a body-fixed frame are constant.

Body frame inertia matrix[edit]

Let the body frame inertia matrix relative to the centre of mass be denoted [I ], and define the

orientation of the body frame relative to the inertial frame by the rotation matrix [A], such that,

where vectors y in the body fixed coordinate frame have coordinates x in the inertial frame. Then, the

inertia matrix of the body measured in the inertial frame is given by

Notice that [A] changes as the body moves, while [I ] remains constant.

Principal axes[edit]

Measured in the body frame the inertia matrix is a constant real symmetric matrix. A real symmetric

matrix has the eigendecompositioninto the product of a rotation matrix [Q] and a diagonal matrix [],

given by

where

The columns of the rotation matrix [Q] define the directions of the principal axes of the body, and the

constants I , I and I are called the principal moments of inertia. This result was first shown by J.

J. Sylvester (1852), and is a form of Sylvester's law of inertia.

For bodies with constant density an axis of rotational symmetry is a principal axis.

Inertia of an ellipsoid[edit]

[6][23]

CB

CB

1 2 3

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The moment of inertia matrix in body-frame coordinates is a quadratic form that defines a surface in

the body called Poinsot's ellipsoid. Let [] be the inertia matrix relative to the centre of mass

aligned with the principal axes, then the surface

or

defines an ellipsoidin the body frame. Write this equation in the form,

to see that the semi-principal diameters of this ellipsoid are given by

Let a point xon this ellipsoid be defined in terms of its magnitude and direction, x=|x|n, where n is a

unit vector. Then the relationship presented above, between the inertia matrix and the scalar moment

of inertia I around an axis in the direction n, yields

Thus, the magnitude of a point x in the direction non the inertia ellipsoid is

[28]

n
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