Abstract
The calculus of variations, an extensive mathematical theory in its own right, plays a fundamental role throughout physics. This chapter contains an overview of some of the basic aspects of the variational calculus. This material in used in Chapters 11 and 13, in conjunction with the path integral introduced in the previous chapter, to obtain useful quantitative results about quantum systems.
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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Gustafson, S.J., Sigal, I.M. (2003). Mathematical Supplement: the Calculus of Variations. In: Mathematical Concepts of Quantum Mechanics. Universitext. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55729-3_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-55729-3_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-44160-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-55729-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive