Past exam of the physics 1 paper of the University of Oxford / 2013 resit / 8 / a

Choose parallel axes along $z$, one through the centre of mass and one displaced transversely by $\mathbf{a}$. Write the perpendicular position as ${\mathbf{r}}_{\perp }={\mathbf{r}}_{\perp }^{\prime }+\mathbf{a}$. Direct expansion of the moment of inertia givesThe integral in the cross term is zero by the definition of the centre of mass. Therefore the parallel axis theorem isThe axes must be parallel and the reference axis must pass through the centre of mass; the formula is not generally valid between arbitrary parallel axes using either axis as the reference.