The Principle of Least Action. Lagrange's Equations

Abstract

WHETHER good mathematicians, when they die, go to Cambridge, I do not know. But it is well known that a large number of men go there when they are young for the purpose of being converted into senior wranglers and Smith's prizemen. Now at Cambridge, or somewhere else, there is a golden or brazen idol called the Principle of Least Action. Its exact locality is kept secret, but numerous copies have been made and distributed amongst the mathematical tutors and lecturers at Cambridge, who make the young men fall down and worship the idol.