The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

Living Edition
| Editors: Palgrave Macmillan

Calculus of Variations

  • Morton I. Kamien
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_132-1
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Abstract

The development of the calculus of variations is attributed to Euler and Lagrange, although some of it can be traced back to the Bernoullis. A history of the calculus of variations is provided by Goldstine (1980). The calculus of variations deals with the problem of determining a function that optimizes some criterion that is usually expressed as an integral. This problem is analogous to the differential calculus problem of finding a point at which a function is optimized, except that the point in the calculus of variations is a function rather than a number. The function over which the optimum is sought is usually restricted to the class of continuous and at least piecewise differentiable functions.

Keywords

Euler Equation Transversality Condition Future Utility Bequest Motive Optimal Saving 
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 1987

Authors and Affiliations

  • Morton I. Kamien
    • 1
  1. 1.