stationary point

Suppose $V$ is a vector space and $L:V\to ℝ$ is a map. Then $v\in V$ is a stationary point of $L$ provided that

$${\frac{d}{dt}L(v+tu)|}_{t=0}=0$$

for all $u\in V$. In this case $u$ is called a variation of $v$.

Title	stationary point
Canonical name	StationaryPoint
Date of creation	2013-03-22 15:33:21
Last modified on	2013-03-22 15:33:21
Owner	matte (1858)
Last modified by	matte (1858)
Numerical id	5
Author	matte (1858)
Entry type	Definition
Classification	msc 47A60