2022/05/16 by Kohei Soga, Soga, Kohei
Mathematics · #37J51 #49J15 #49M25 #Advanced Optimization Algorithms Research #Classical Analysis and ODEs (math.CA) #FOS: Mathematics #History and Theory of Mathematics #Mathematics and Applications
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2205.07676
openalex publication_date 2022/05/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper provides a quite simple method of Tonelli's calculus of variations with positive definite and superlinear Lagrangians. The result complements the classical literature of calculus of variations before Tonelli's modern approach. Inspired by Euler's spirit, the proposed method employs finite dimensional approximation of the exact action functional, whose minimizer is easily found as a solution of Euler's discretization of the exact Euler-Lagrange equation. The Euler-Cauchy polygonal line generated by the approximate minimizer converges to an exact smooth minimizing curve. This framework yields an elementary proof of the existence and regularity of minimizers within the family of smooth curves and hence, with a minor additional step, within the family of Lipschitz curves, without using modern functional analysis on absolutely continuous curves and lower semicontinuity of action functionals.