The optimal journey from A to BShow others and affiliations
2008 (English)In: American Journal of Physics, ISSN 0002-9505, E-ISSN 1943-2909, Vol. 76, no 9, p. 863-866Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
How fast can you comfortably travel between two points A and B? This question is formulated as a minimization problem of a functional where the discomfort is quantified in terms of the integral of the square of the acceleration between A and B. The problem is solved in terms of the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equation and approximately using a direct variational approach based on trial functions and Ritz optimization. The main purpose of the analysis is to introduce undergraduate students to variational calculus in an interesting and pedagogical way.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Association of Physics Teachers , 2008. Vol. 76, no 9, p. 863-866
Keywords [en]
variational calculus, ritz optimization, undergraduate students
Keywords [sv]
Matematik och teoretisk fysik
National Category
Mathematical Analysis
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-2428DOI: 10.1119/1.2929673ISI: 000259275900013Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-51749094830Local ID: 2320/3929OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hb-2428DiVA, id: diva2:870522
2015-11-132015-11-132017-05-04Bibliographically approved