The Early Period of the Calculus of Variations

• Main Authors: Freguglia, Paolo (Author), Giaquinta, Mariano (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Birkhäuser, 2016.
• Subjects: Mathematics.; History.; Calculus of variations.; History of Mathematical Sciences.; Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control; Optimization.

This monograph explores the early development of the calculus of variations in continental Europe during the Eighteenth Century by illustrating the mathematics of its founders. Closely following the original papers and correspondences of Euler, Lagrange, the Bernoullis, and others, the reader is imm...

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Some Introductory Material
• The Brachystochrone Problem: Johann and Jakob Bernoulli
• Isoperimetrical Problems: Jakob and Johann Bernoulli
• Shortest Lines and Geodesics
• Euler's Memoirs of 1738 and 1741
• Euler's Method us Inveniendi
• Lagrange's δ-Calculus
• Bibliography
• Index of Names
• Subject Index.