First some definitions. I'll be rotating about the x axis by theta1, about the y axis by theta2, and about the z axis by theta3. Let c = cos(theta1) s = sin(theta1) d = cos(theta2) t = sin(theta2) e = cos(theta3) u = sin(theta3) Let I be the identity matrix Let x^t denote the transpose of matrix x Let x^-1 denote the inverse of matrix x For part one, the general rotation matrix is simply the product of the three matrices required to rotate about specific axes. These matrices are: |1 0 0 0| |d 0 -t 0| |e t 0 0| x = |0 c s 0| y = |0 1 0 0| z = |-t e 0 0| |0 -s c 0| |t 0 d 0| |0 0 1 0| |0 0 0 1| |0 0 0 1| |0 0 0 1| |d*e d*t -t 0| The general rotation matrix is then = xyz = |s*t*e+c*-t s*t*t+c*e s*d 0| |c*t*e+-s*-t c*t*t+-s*e c*d 0| |0 0 0 1| Now on to part two. Note that s^2 + c^2 = t^2 + d^2 = u^2 + e^2 = 1 With those trigonometric identities in mind, note that: |1 0 0 0| xx^t = |0 c*c+s*s c*-s+s*c 0| = I |0 -s*c+c*s -s*-s+c*c 0| |0 0 0 1| |d*d+-t*-t 0 d*t+-t*d 0| yy^t = |0 1 0 0| = I |t*d+d*-t 0 t*t+d*d 0| |0 0 0 1| |e*e+t*t e*-t+t*e 0 0| zz^t = |-t*e+e*t -t*-t+e*e 0 0| = I |0 0 1 0| |0 0 0 1| With the above three matrix equations in mind... (xyz)^t = (xyz)^-1 <==> (xyz)(xyz)^t = I <==> (by def of matrix inverse) (xyz)((x^t)(y^t)(z^t)) = I <==> (since (ab)^t = (b^t*a^t) and associativity of matrix multiplication) x(y(zz^t)y^t)x^t = I <==> (by associativity of matrix multiplication) x(yIy^t)x^t = I <==> (substitution...) xIx^t = I <==> I = I Since these are all bidirectional implications, (xyz)^t does indeed equal (xyz)^-1