Useful Moment of Inertia Formulas

Note: In the table below, the overbar indicates the moment of inertia is taken about an axis that
passes through the centroid, denoted as C. Parallel axis theorems are:
I xy I xy Ax y
I y I y Ad
I x I x Ad 2
Here, A is the area of the shape, d is the distance from the centroidal axis to the desired parallel
axis, and x y are the x and y distances of the centroid from the origin of the desired coordinate
frame.
2

Rectangle:
I x 1 bh 3
12
I y 1 b 3 h
12

I x 1 bh 3
3
I y 1 b3h
3

I xy 0

y`
b/2

Area = bh

x`
h/2
x

Triangle:
I x 1 bh 3
36
I xy

I x 1 bh 3
12

b(b 2 s ) h 2
72

Area

1
bh
2

C
h/3

x`
x

Circle:

I x I y 1 r 4
4
I xy 0

Area r 2

Semi-circle:
I x I y 1 r 4
8

I x ' 8 r 4
8 9

I xy 0

Area

Ellipse:
I x 1 ab 3
4
I xy 0

Area ab

y
r

4r/3
x`
x

r 2
2

I y 1 a 3b
4

b
a