Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-calculus-of-variations-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2011/3/b/i/solution

In one dimension, has an absolutely continuous bounded representative. For any smooth zero-endpoint test function , the functions are admissible and arbitrarily close to for small . Local minimality forces the first variation to vanish. Differentiation under the integral is valid because are bounded and the derivative terms are integrable, giving the weak Euler-Lagrange equation
In distributional form this says . The fundamental theorem for weak derivatives, or the fundamental lemma applied after subtracting an antiderivative, gives a constant with
This is the integrated Euler-Lagrange equation. The boundary difference determines
The weak identity extends to all zero-trace test functions by density.

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