Moment of Inertia and Radius of Gyration

Let R be a region of the plane with a given mass. Let r be distance from a
point in the region to an axis of rotation. Moment of inertia is mr2 , where m
is the mass of the region. Now consider a mass density function f (x, y) and
a distance function r(x, y). Total moment of inertia is a sum of contribution
of expressions of the form f (xi , yi )r(xi , yi )2 A(Ri ). Summing, get Riemann
sum for the integral
Z Z
I= f (x, y)r(x, y)2 dA.
R

Moment of inertia about the x-axis: r(x, y) = y, therefore

Z Z
Ix = y 2 f (x, y) dA.
R

Moment of inertia about the y-axis: r(x, y) = x, therefore

Z Z
Iy = x2 f (x, y) dA.
R

Radius of Gyration about axis of rotation: a value of R such that M R2 = I,

where M is total mass and I is the inertia. This yields
r
I
R= .
M