Routhian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (September 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please help improve the article with a good introductory style.

In the branch of physics known as dynamics the Routhian is a hybrid of the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian for a system. The Hamiltonian can be obtained by a Legendre transform of the Lagrangian; if this transformation is performed only with regards to cyclic coordinates (those not appearing explicitly in the Lagrangian), the result is called the Routhian.

It is named after Edward John Routh ( 1831 to 1907)