Euler-Lagrange equations

What are the stationary paths of the functional

S[y]=abF(x,y,y)dx,y(a)=A,y(b)=B,y=dydx

With y~=y+ϵg for arbitrary smooth function g with g(a)=g(b)=0 and real ϵ, we have

ddϵS[y~]|ϵ=0=ddϵabF(x,y~,y~)dx|ϵ=0=abddϵF(x,y~,y~)|ϵ=0dx=abddϵF(x,y~,y~)|ϵ=0dx=ab(Fy~dy~dϵ+Fy~dy~dϵ)|ϵ=0dx=ab(Fyg+Fyg)dx=ab(Fyddx(Fy))gdx+[g(x)Fy]ab0

Setting this to zero (for stationary y), we finally get the condition that the coefficient of g must be uniformly zero, i.e.,

Fyddx(Fy)=0
Links

Sources