Variational methods for boundary value problems

[摘要] The variational formulation of boundary value problems is valuablein providing remarkably easy computational algorithms as well as analternative framework with which to prove existence results.Boundary conditions impose constraints which can be annoying from acomputational point of view. The question is then posed: what is themost general boundary value problem which can be posed invariational form with the boundary conditions appearing naturally?Special cases of two-point problems in one-dimension and some higherdimensional problems are addressed. There is a deep connection withself-adjointness for the linear case. Further cases under which aLagrangian may or may not exist are explained.

[学科分类] 自然科学（综合）