The purpose of this paper is to extend the fractional actionlike variational approach by introducing a generalized fractional derivative operator. The generalized fractional formalism introduced through this work includes some interesting features concerning the fractional Euler-Lagrange and Hamilton equations. Additional attractive features are explored in some details.
The fact that the first variation of a variational functional must vanish along an extremizer is the base of most effective solution schemes to solve problems of the calculus of variations. We generalize the method to variational problems involving fractional order derivatives. First order splines are used as variations, for which fractional derivatives are known. The Grünwald-Letnikov definition of fractional derivative is used, because of its intrinsic discrete nature that leads to straightforward approximations.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.