Study Notes

Game Dev Math

A self-contained reference book covering the linear algebra and geometry used in game development.

01

Cartesian Coordinate Systems

Number types, 3D space, left vs right-handed systems, radians, SohCahToa, and the trig identities that underpin all of game math.

handedness radians SohCahToa trig identities
02

Vectors

Magnitude, normalization, distance, scalar multiplication, vector addition, and the dot product — the single most-used operation in real-time rendering and AI.

magnitude normalization dot product projection
03

Multiple Coordinate Spaces

World, object, camera, clip, and screen space. Basis vectors, span, rank, and orthonormal bases — the machinery behind the vertex shader pipeline.

world space object space basis vectors orthonormal
04

Introduction to Matrices

Matrix anatomy, identity, transposition, row vs column vectors, multiplication rules, and how matrices encode linear transformations through basis vectors.

identity transpose matrix multiply basis vectors
05

Matrices and Linear Transformations

Rotation (2D, 3D cardinal, arbitrary axis), scale, orthographic projection, reflection, shearing, and TRS matrix composition.

rotation scale TRS affine shear
06

The Cross Product

Computing perpendicular vectors, the right-hand rule, surface normals, camera right vectors, triangle area, and winding-order detection.

cross product normals right-hand rule area
07

Polar Coordinate Systems

2D polar, aliasing, atan2, cylindrical and spherical coordinates, and the heading/pitch convention used by game engines for 3D directions.

polar spherical heading/pitch atan2 aliasing
08

Rotation in Three Dimensions

Matrix form, Euler angles (heading/pitch/bank), gimbal lock, canonical sets, axis-angle, exponential map, and quaternions.

Euler angles gimbal lock quaternions SLERP axis-angle
09

Geometric Primitives

Lines, rays (parametric and implicit forms), spheres, AABBs, OBBs, and planes — the shapes that drive collision detection.

rays AABB OBB planes spheres
10

Geometric Tests

Closest-point queries and intersection tests: ray-sphere, ray-plane, ray-triangle, AABB-AABB, AABB-sphere, and the separating axis theorem.

ray casting SAT intersection closest point broadphase