We discuss intrinsic aspects of Krupka's approach to nite{order variational sequences. We recover in an intrinsic way the second{order varia-tional calculus for aane Lagrangians by means of a natural generalisation of rst{ordertheories. Moreover, we nd an intrinsic expressionfor the Helmholtz morphism using a technique introduced by Koll a r that we have adapted to our context. Introduction The...

When studying curves, we studied how the curve twisted and turned in space. We now turn to surfaces, two-dimensional objects in three-dimensional space and examine how the concept of curvature translates to surfaces. In Calculus 3, you have encounter surfaces defined as graphs of real valued functions of two variables z = f(x, y). This function also can take the form x = f(y, z) or y = f(x, z)....

In recent years the graph of a foliation, an object which has been known for a long time, cf. 10], has known new interest. In fact there are two groupoids associated with a foliation, the homotopy groupoid and the holonomy groupoid, sometimes called the graph. It serves as a basis for the construction of the C-algebra associated to the foliation. Moreover, the homotopy groupoid of the character...

6 Lie Derivatives and the Commutator Revisited 21 6.1 Integral Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 6.2 Congruence of Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 6.3 The Commutator Revisited: A Geometric Interpretation . . . 22 6.4 Lie Derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 6.5 Lie Derivatives of a Function . . . . . . . . . . . ....

1 Co-ordinate independent calculus. 2 1.

After the introduction of coordinates, it became possible to treat figures in plane and space by analytical methods, and calculus has been the main means for the study of curved figures. For example, one attaches the tangent line to a curve at each point. One sees how tangent lines change with points of the curve and gets an invariant called the curvature. C. F. Gauss, with whom differential ge...