Screw theory
![Sir Robert Ball, author of treatises on screw theory in 1876 and 1900](/Images/godic/202502/09/Robert_Stawell_Ball3405.jpg")
![The pitch of a pure screw relates rotation about an axis to translation along that axis.](/Images/godic/202502/09/Pure_screw.svg3405.png")
Screw theory is the algebra and calculus of pairs of vectors, such as forces and moments and angular and linear velocity, that arise in the kinematics and dynamics of rigid bodies. The mathematical framework was developed by Sir Robert Stawell Ball in 1876 for application in kinematics and statics of mechanisms (rigid body mechanics).