The optimal journey from A to B

✍ Scribed by Anderson, D.; Andersson, F.; Andersson, P.; Billander, A.; Desaix, M.; Lisak, M.

• Book ID: 115492957
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 373 KB
• Volume: 76
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9505
• DOI: 10.1119/1.2929673

✦ Synopsis

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.