 Beltrami identity for a second-derivative functional

For a smooth functional $\int F(x,y,y^{\prime },y^{\prime \prime })dx$, let $P=F_{y^{\prime }}$ and $Q=F_{y^{\prime \prime }}$. Along an extremal, the Euler-Lagrange equation for a second-derivative functional is $F_y-P^{\prime }+Q^{\prime \prime }=0$. Differentiating $H=y^{\prime \prime }Q+y^{\prime }(P-Q^{\prime })-F$ by the chain rule givesConsequently $H$ is constant whenever $F$ has no explicit dependence on $x$. This extends the Beltrami identity to a second-derivative variational problem. If $F$ is independent of $y^{\prime \prime }$, the expression reduces to $y^{\prime }{F}_{y^{\prime }}-F$.