History of Variational Principles in Physics
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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A variational principle in physics is an alternative method for determining the state or dynamics of a physical system, by identifying it as an extremum (minimum, maximum or saddle point) of a function or functional. This article describes the historical development of such principles. The earliest precedents of the principle of least action can be found in studies of the specular reflection and refraction of light. Hero of Alexandria noted that the law of reflection i = r follows from the assumption that light travels along the shortest distance…mehr

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High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A variational principle in physics is an alternative method for determining the state or dynamics of a physical system, by identifying it as an extremum (minimum, maximum or saddle point) of a function or functional. This article describes the historical development of such principles. The earliest precedents of the principle of least action can be found in studies of the specular reflection and refraction of light. Hero of Alexandria noted that the law of reflection i = r follows from the assumption that light travels along the shortest distance between two given points. This was generalized to refraction by Pierre de Fermat, who, in the 17th century, refined the principle to "light travels between two given points along the path of shortest time"; now known as the principle of least time or Fermat's principle.