A decoupling principle in the calculus of variations (Q2367727)

The author presents a direct approach of the necessary conditions of optimality for the generalized problem of Bolza based on a decoupling principle. Roughly speaking, this consists in the following: There exist approximate solutions of the given problem which almost minimize not only the total cost but also certain perturbed versions of the running cost and then endpoint cost. So, the two terms in the Bolza problem are decoupled.