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A general rotation in four dimensions has only one fixed point, the centre of rotation, and no axis of rotation; see rotations in 4-dimensional Euclidean space for details. Instead the rotation has two mutually orthogonal planes of rotation, each of which is fixed in the sense that points in each plane stay within the planes.
In mathematics and mechanics, the Euler–Rodrigues formula describes the rotation of a vector in three dimensions. It is based on Rodrigues' rotation formula , but uses a different parametrization. The rotation is described by four Euler parameters due to Leonhard Euler .
Orbital mechanics is a core discipline within space-mission design and control. Celestial mechanics treats more broadly the orbital dynamics of systems under the influence of gravity , including both spacecraft and natural astronomical bodies such as star systems , planets , moons , and comets .
Rotations in 3D space are made mathematically much more tractable by the use of spherical coordinates. Any rotation in 3D can be characterized by a fixed axis of rotation and an invariant plane perpendicular to that axis. Without loss of generality, we can take the xy-plane as the invariant plane and the z-axis as the fixed axis.
A rotation represented by an Euler axis and angle. In geometry, Euler's rotation theorem states that, in three-dimensional space, any displacement of a rigid body such that a point on the rigid body remains fixed, is equivalent to a single rotation about some axis that runs through the fixed point. It also means that the composition of two ...
For example, in 2-space n = 2, a rotation by angle θ has eigenvalues λ = e iθ and λ = e −iθ, so there is no axis of rotation except when θ = 0, the case of the null rotation. In 3-space n = 3, the axis of a non-null proper rotation is always a unique line, and a rotation around this axis by angle θ has eigenvalues λ = 1, e iθ, e −iθ.
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Rotation formalisms are focused on proper (orientation-preserving) motions of the Euclidean space with one fixed point, that a rotation refers to.Although physical motions with a fixed point are an important case (such as ones described in the center-of-mass frame, or motions of a joint), this approach creates a knowledge about all motions.