 <p>If you are already familiar (and comfortable) with</p> <ul> <li>linear algebra</li> <li>basic calculus</li> <li>Newton's laws of motion</li> </ul> <p>then <a href="http://www.museful.net/2011/system-modelling/6dof-rigid-body-dynamics" rel="nofollow">6DoF Rigid Body Dynamics</a> is what you are looking for. It's a brief article written [disclaimer: by me] when I once had to develop a helicopter flight simulator.</p> <p>Using a rotation matrix allows for extremely simple modelling equations, but there exists a simple mapping to and from a quaternion if you <a href="http://www.museful.net/2011/system-modelling/expressing-3dof-rotation" rel="nofollow">prefer that representation for other reasons</a>.</p>