In classical mechanics, the rotation of a rigid body such as a spinning top under the influence of gravity is not, in general, an integrable problem. There are however three famous cases that are inte
Leonhard Euler
Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya
Spinning top
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A spinning top, or simply a top, is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis, balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect.
Lagrange, Euler, and Kovalevskaya tops
…In classical mechanics, the rotation of a rigid body such as a spinning top under the influence of gravity is not, in general, an integrable problem. There are however three famous cases that are integrable, the Euler, the…
An assortment of spinning tops
Ancient Roman wooden spinning top, from Tebtynis (Egypt), dating from the 1st–3rd century CE
Extract from Children's Games (1560)
A cheap plastic version of the perinola