Introduction to Calculus of Variations

In this video, I introduce the subject of Variational Calculus/Calculus of Variations. I describe the purpose of Variational Calculus and give some examples of problems which may be solved using techniques from Calculus of Variations. Specifically, Calculus of Variations seeks to find a function y = f(x) which makes a functional stationary. Note: a functional is a function of functions, or a map which converts a function to a real number, kind of like how the time functional T converts a particular function/particle path to a real value of time. I would have included the Euler-Lagrange proof but it would have likely made the video over 15 minutes, which is a little too long for us. Questions/requests? Let me know in the comments! Prerequisites: Not many, just know Calculus 1 (obviously). For later videos, a background in ODEs will be needed, though you don't need to be an expert in them since I'll walk you through :) Lecture Notes: drive.google.com/file/d/0BzC45hep01Q4M2h3MmdaMi1xT… Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=4354534 Twitter: twitter.com/FacultyOfKhan

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