Positive second-moment matrix test for an inertia tensor ($\mathsf{S}=\frac{1}{2}\mathrm{tr}(\mathsf{I})1-\mathsf{I}⪰0$)

For a nonnegative mass distribution relative to an origin, the second-moment matrix is $\mathsf{S}=\int \mathbf{r}{\mathbf{r}}^{\mathsf{T}}dm$ and the inertia tensor is $\mathsf{I}=\mathrm{tr}(\mathsf{S})1-\mathsf{S}$. Taking the trace gives the displayed inverse formula, which must be positive semidefinite. Conversely, any such $\mathsf{S}$ can be realized by pairs of point masses along its orthogonal principal directions. Thus this is also a realizability test when total mass and dimensions are unrestricted. In principal coordinates it is equivalent to the moment-of-inertia triangle inequalities: $I_2+I_3-I_1=2S_{11}\ge 0$, with cyclic counterparts. A symmetric positive definite matrix alone need not be a physical inertia tensor.