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In the calculus of variations and classical mechanics, the Euler–Lagrange equations [1] are a system of second-order ordinary differential equations whose solutions are stationary points of the given action functional. The equations were discovered in the 1750s by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler and Italian mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.
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.
It is possible to derive modified EL equations for a Lagrangian containing higher order derivatives, see Euler–Lagrange equation for details. However, from the physical point-of-view there is an obstacle to include time derivatives higher than the first order, which is implied by Ostrogradsky's construction of a canonical formalism for ...
To simplify the notation, let = ˙ and define a collection of n 2 functions Φ j i by =. Theorem. (Douglas 1941) There exists a Lagrangian L : [0, T] × TM → R such that the equations (E) are its Euler–Lagrange equations if and only if there exists a non-singular symmetric matrix g with entries g ij depending on both u and v satisfying the following three Helmholtz conditions:
A Lagrangian density L (or, simply, a Lagrangian) of order r is defined as an n-form, n = dim X, on the r-order jet manifold J r Y of Y. A Lagrangian L can be introduced as an element of the variational bicomplex of the differential graded algebra O ∗ ∞ ( Y ) of exterior forms on jet manifolds of Y → X .
This is a generalization of the Euler–Lagrange equation: indeed, the functional derivative was introduced in physics within the derivation of the Lagrange equation of the second kind from the principle of least action in Lagrangian mechanics (18th century).
The Beltrami identity, named after Eugenio Beltrami, is a special case of the Euler–Lagrange equation in the calculus of variations. The Euler–Lagrange equation serves to extremize action functionals of the form [] = [, (), ′ ()],
The general results presented above for Hamilton's principle can be applied to optics using the Lagrangian defined in Fermat's principle.The Euler-Lagrange equations with parameter σ =x 3 and N=2 applied to Fermat's principle result in ˙ = with k = 1, 2 and where L is the optical Lagrangian and ˙ = /.