There are tons of books (not to talk about papers) dealing with calculus of variations and optimal control design. Although some of them are excellent, navigating and combining the material for obtaining an appropriate presentation level was definitely not trivial. I hope I did a good job but any suggestion is welcomed.
The aim was to write lecture notes that were sufficiently self-contained so that any motivated student specializing in a technical subject should be able to follow them. Depending on the student’s background, some supplementary reading may be necessary from time to time. The references at the end of each chapter should facilitate this.
The exercises form an integral part of the text. They either illustrate the subject matter covered or extend it.
Problems at the end of each section are extensions and completions of theoretical material. The suggestion is to start working on each problem as soon as the corresponding material is covered.
Take care that, although great effort has been done in trying to remove errors in the text, some may still be present. Please report these errors.
Not always are proper references given to sources from which results are taken. This does not mean that the results are original. In fact, all results presented in these notes (with the exception of some simple examples) were borrowed from the literature.