Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2020 / ii / Paper 4 / 15B / a / Solution

For a regular Lagrangian, define the canonical momentum $p_i=\partial L/\partial {\dot{q}}_i$ and invert this relation for $\dot{q}(q,p,t)$. Its Legendre transform is the HamiltonianSince $Ldt=p\cdot dq-Hdt$, the action isFor independent variations with $\delta q(t_1)=\delta q(t_2)=0$,Stationarity for arbitrary $\delta p$ and $\delta q$ gives Hamilton's equations $\dot{q}={\partial }_{p}H$ and $\dot{p}=-{\partial }_{q}H$.