This comprehensive text provides all information necessary for an introductory course on the calculus of variations and optimal control theory. Following a thorough discussion of the basic problem, including sufficient conditions for optimality, the theory and techniques are extended to problems with a free end point, a free boundary, auxiliary and inequality constraints, leading to a study of optimal control theory.

This comprehensive text provides all information necessary for an introductory course on the calculus of variations and optimal control theory. Following a thorough discussion of the basic problem, including sufficient conditions for optimality, the theory and techniques are extended to problems with a free end point, a free boundary, auxiliary and inequality constraints, leading to a study of optimal control theory.