Calculus of Variations — Lecture 1

20 January 2015, Niels Chr Overgaard

Exercises
1. Consider minimization of the functional
Z 1
J [ y] = y( x)2 y0 ( x)2 dx,
0

subject to the boundary conditions y(0) = 0 and y(1) = 1.

a) Determine an upper bound to the minimum J ∗ of this problem by restricting
the investigation to trial-functions of the type y² ( x) = x² where ² > 1/4.
(M. Mesterton-Gibbons, Exercise 1.1.)
b) Guess the function which solves the variational problem. Can the guess
be verified?
2. Show that the descent time down the cycloid curve generated by a rolling
circle of radius R ,
x(θ ) = a + R (θ − sin θ )
(
, 0 ≤ θ ≤ 2π ,
y(θ ) = ya − R (1 − cos θ )

is given by T = R / g(θb − θa ) where θb is the angle corresponding to the

p

terminal point ( b, yb ) and θa = 0 is the angle corresponding to the initial

point (a, ya ). What is the descent time to the lowest point on the cycloid?
(M. Kot, Exercise 1.6.1.)
3. Try to guess the solution of the problem of minimizing the functional
Z 2
J [ y] = y( x)2 (1 − y0 ( x))2 dx
0

subject to y(0) = 0 and y(2) = 1. Which function class does your guess belong
to? How do you know that the function you guessed is a minimizer?
4. Show that the straight line φ( x) = α + (β − α)( x − a)/( b − a) minimizes the
curve length functional
Z b q
0
L[ y] = f ( y ( x)) dx, f ( p) = 1 + p2 ,
a

subject to y(a) = α and y( b) = β, by establishing the inequality L[ y] − L[φ] ≥ 0

for all admissible y. Do this by writing y( x) = φ( x) + h( x), with h(a) = h( b) =
0, and make a first-order Taylor expansion of f (φ + h) with remainder in
Lagrange’s form. (This is an example of a direct verification.)