Calculus of Variations: Euler Equation for the Geodesic
As derived in the notes, the condition for a curve to minimize an integral is given by the variational derivative, setting the variational derivative equal to zero produces the Euler equation
Calling VariationalD from the package "VariationalMethods"
Setting the variational derivative to zero is the Euler equation
The Euler equation is an ODE; this one has a closed-form solution.
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