ESDU 81005 describes the general characteristics of the most commonly used rolling bearings that are suitable for applications involving relative rotation between a shaft and housing. Assistance is given to designers during the initial stages of the design of a bearing arrangement consisting of two or more rolling bearings, a shaft and housing; preferred bearing arrangements are described in Appendix A. Guidance is given on specifying the design requirements for each individual bearing and, in particular, typical values of design life are quoted for common applications. Further, guidance is given on the use of life adjustment factors for more exacting applications. Guidance is given to allow the designer to use the information contained in the bearing manufacturers' catalogues to determine the required load rating and size of single row radial ball bearings, single row angular contact ball bearings, four point contact (duplex) ball bearings, cylindrical roller bearings and needle roller bearings. An iterative procedure for the rapid calculation of the required load rating of single row radial ball bearings is given in detail. Graphical methods are presented for selecting suitable dimensions of single row radial ball bearing types and cylindrical roller bearings. ESDU 81037 and 82014 are parts 2 and 3 respectively of the group dealing with "Designing with rolling bearings".