A more interesting treatment of Lagrangians, in my opinion, is Chapter 19 of Volume 2 of the Feynman Lectures on Physics. It's a bit more complex, but I think

A more interesting treatment of Lagrangians, in my opinion, is Chapter 19 of Volume 2 of the Feynman Lectures on Physics. It's a bit more complex, but I think you can get a lot more out of it. It's here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/8321714/Vol-2-Ch-19-Principle-of-Least-Action http://www.scribd.com/doc/8321714/Vol-2-Ch-19-Principle-of-L... I'm a bit uncomfortable with posting the link to scribd, but I guess it's fair use.