From the reviews:
"I find this book a very useful supplementary reading for undergraduate students and a good teaching aid for lecturers of topics involving traditional variational calculus (as e. g. mathematical physics). It is written with a deep pedagogical attention … . According to my classroom experience with undergraduate physicists, the presentation of the examples in the book may be very helpful … . It can also be appreciated that the author tries to present the results showing motivation and heuristical ideas for each crucial theorem." (L. L. Stachó, Acta Scientiarum Mathematicarum, Vol. 71, 2005)
"The calculus of variations is one of the latest books in Springer’s Universitext series. As such, it is intended to be a non-intimidating, introductory text … . I enjoyed reading The calculus of variations. Brunt writes in a lucid, engaging style … . can be used in a variety of undergraduate and beginning postgraduate courses. There is sufficient meat, both in the range of examples treated and in the development of the underlying mathematics … that most of its intended audience will just be grateful … ." (Nick Lord, The Mathematical Gazette, Vol. 89 (516), 2005)
"The author describes this book as suitable for a one semester course for advance undergraduate students in math, physics or engineering. … Accordingly, I picked to use this book as my primary reference for presenting the course … . From my perspective, the book was pitched at a good level for the students I was teaching … . Overall I enjoyed this book, and would unreservedly recommend it … . The book really brought home to me the elegance of this subject … ." (Matthew Roughan, The Australian Mathematical Society Gazette, Vol. 32 (1), 2005)
"This text provides a friendly and … elementary introduction to the calculus of variations. … The emphasis is on well-chosen examples used to obtain the necessary heuristics for developing the theoretical background. … Due to its concrete and well-organized approach, the book constitutes a valuable addition to the text book literature on the calculus of variations." (M. Kunzinger, Monatshefte für Mathematik, Vol. 147 (1), 2006)
"Bruce van Brunt shows his love of the subject in his new book The Calculus of Variations … . Brunt gives us a nice historical introduction to the calculus of variations. … The exercises have … been polished and sharpened in the classroom. … this is a well crafted, reasonably priced book that would be a fine introduction to a fascinating subject that not enough mathematicians know about." (Ed Sandifer, MathDL, May, 2004)
"Professor van Brunt’s Calculus of Variations is an easily understandable introductory account of the (classical) Calculus of Variations … . This text is aimed at the beginning graduate and advanced graduate students of mathematics and physics as well as engineering. … The references contain 75 items … ." (R. Thiele, Zeitschrift für Analysis und ihre Anwendungen, Vol. 24 (4), 2005)
Reader Reviews
Unlike so many math texts which seem to be compiled by computers, this book is very personable, interesting, and easily digested. If you are a senior math undergraduate, or a graduate student in science, this is great bedtime reading; a younger (strong) student who knows calculus would also profit from this book. Books of this quality remind math students how math can be so enjoyable.
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