Past exam of the short options paper shared by Prelims and Parts A and B of the physics course of the University of Oxford / 2016 / S7 / 3 / 1 / Solution

Vary $S=\int L(q,\dot{q},t)dt$ with fixed endpoints. Integration by parts gives $\delta S=\int {\sum }_i[L_{q_i}-d{L}_{{\dot{q}}_i}/dt]\delta q_{i}dt$, hence the Euler-Lagrange equations. Define $p_i=L_{{\dot{q}}_i}$ and, assuming an invertible velocity-momentum relation, $H=p\cdot \dot{q}-L$. The equivalent action is $\int (p\cdot \dot{q}-H)dt$. Independent variations of $p$ and $q$ yieldBoundary terms vanish for fixed endpoint coordinates; constraining momenta independently at the same endpoints is unnecessary. Singular Lagrangians require constraint analysis instead of this unconstrained Legendre transform.