First truly up-to-date treatment offers a simple introduction to optimal control, linear-quadratic control design, and more. Broad perspective features numerous exercises, hints, outlines, and appendixes, including a practical discussion of MATLAB. 2005 edition.

This research presents some important domains of partial differential equations and applied mathematics including calculus of variations, control theory, modelling, numerical analysis and various applications in physics, mechanics and engineering. These topics are now part of many areas of science and have experienced tremendous development during the last decades.

The purpose of the calculus of variations is to find optimal solutions to engineering problems whose optimum may be a certain quantity, shape, or function. Applied Calculus of Variations for Engineers addresses this important mathematical area applicable to many engineering disciplines. Its unique, application-oriented approach sets it apart from the theoretical treatises of most texts, as it is aimed at enhancing the engineer’s understanding of the topic. This Second Edition text: Contains new chapters discussing analytic solutions of variational problems and Lagrange-Hamilton equations of motion in depth Provides new sections detailing the boundary integral and finite element methods and their calculation techniques Includes enlightening new examples, such as the compression of a beam, the optimal cross section of beam under bending force, the solution of Laplace’s equation, and Poisson’s equation with various methods Applied Calculus of Variations for Engineers, Second Edition extends the collection of techniques aiding the engineer in the application of the concepts of the calculus of variations.

Fresh, lively text serves as a modern introduction to the subject, with applications to the mechanics of systems with a finite number of degrees of freedom. Ideal for math and physics students.

This textbook offers a concise yet rigorous introduction to calculus of variations and optimal control theory, and is a self-contained resource for graduate students in engineering, applied mathematics, and related subjects. Designed specifically for a one-semester course, the book begins with calculus of variations, preparing the ground for optimal control. It then gives a complete proof of the maximum principle and covers key topics such as the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman theory of dynamic programming and linear-quadratic optimal control. Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control Theory also traces the historical development of the subject and features numerous exercises, notes and references at the end of each chapter, and suggestions for further study. Offers a concise yet rigorous introduction Requires limited background in control theory or advanced mathematics Provides a complete proof of the maximum principle Uses consistent notation in the exposition of classical and modern topics Traces the historical development of the subject Solutions manual (available only to teachers) Leading universities that have adopted this book include: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ECE 553: Optimum Control Systems Georgia Institute of Technology ECE 6553: Optimal Control and Optimization University of Pennsylvania ESE 680: Optimal Control Theory University of Notre Dame EE 60565: Optimal Control

The calculus of variations is one of the oldest subjects in mathematics, yet is very much alive and is still evolving. Besides its mathematical importance and its links to other branches of mathematics, such as geometry or differential equations, it is widely used in physics, engineering, economics and biology.This book serves both as a guide to the expansive existing literature and as an aid to the non-specialist ? mathematicians, physicists, engineers, students or researchers ? in discovering the subject's most important problems, results and techniques. Despite the aim of addressing non-specialists, mathematical rigor has not been sacrificed; most of the theorems are either fully proved or proved under more stringent conditions.In this new edition, the chapter on regularity has been significantly expanded and 27 new exercises have been added. The book, containing a total of 103 exercises with detailed solutions, is well designed for a course at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

This book by Robert Weinstock was written to fill the need for a basic introduction to the calculus of variations. Simply and easily written, with an emphasis on the applications of this calculus, it has long been a standard reference of physicists, engineers, and applied mathematicians. The author begins slowly, introducing the reader to the calculus of variations, and supplying lists of essential formulae and derivations. Later chapters cover isoperimetric problems, geometrical optics, Fermat's principle, dynamics of particles, the Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue-eigenfunction problem, the theory of elasticity, quantum mechanics, and electrostatics. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises which should prove very useful in determining whether the material in that chapter has been thoroughly grasped. The clarity of exposition makes this book easily accessible to anyone who has mastered first-year calculus with some exposure to ordinary differential equations. Physicists and engineers who find variational methods evasive at times will find this book particularly helpful. "I regard this as a very useful book which I shall refer to frequently in the future." J. L. Synge, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society.