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The Euler–Lagrange equation was developed in connection with their studies of the tautochrone problem. The Euler–Lagrange equation was developed in the 1750s by Euler and Lagrange in connection with their studies of the tautochrone problem. This is the problem of determining a curve on which a weighted particle will fall to a fixed point in ...
These equations for solution of a first-order partial differential equation are identical to the Euler–Lagrange equations if we make the identification = ˙ ˙. We conclude that the function ψ {\displaystyle \psi } is the value of the minimizing integral A {\displaystyle A} as a function of the upper end point.
However, the Euler–Lagrange equations can only account for non-conservative forces if a potential can be found as shown. This may not always be possible for non-conservative forces, and Lagrange's equations do not involve any potential, only generalized forces; therefore they are more general than the Euler–Lagrange equations.
Leonhard Euler is credited of introducing both specifications in two publications written in 1755 [3] and 1759. [4] [5] Joseph-Louis Lagrange studied the equations of motion in connection to the principle of least action in 1760, later in a treaty of fluid mechanics in 1781, [6] and thirdly in his book Mécanique analytique. [5]
In field theory, the independent variable is replaced by an event in spacetime (x, y, z, t), or more generally still by a point s on a Riemannian manifold.The dependent variables are replaced by the value of a field at that point in spacetime (,,,) so that the equations of motion are obtained by means of an action principle, written as: =, where the action, , is a functional of the dependent ...
Trivial examples help to appreciate the use of the action principle via the Euler–Lagrange equations. A free particle (mass m and velocity v) in Euclidean space moves in a straight line. Using the Euler–Lagrange equations, this can be shown in polar coordinates as follows.
Action principles are "integral" approaches rather than the "differential" approach of Newtonian mechanics.[2]: 162 The core ideas are based on energy, paths, an energy function called the Lagrangian along paths, and selection of a path according to the "action", a continuous sum or integral of the Lagrangian along the path.
The Euler–Lagrange equation serves to extremize action functionals of the form ... An example of an application of the Beltrami identity is the brachistochrone ...