TITLE: Beginners text on calculus of variations
QUESTION [10 upvotes]: I want to begin  learning Calculus of Variations. What texts would MathOverflow recommend? Amazon shows up quite a few options:
http://tinyurl.com/36koaq4
I work on Machine Learning, and that where I intend to apply this.
Thanks!

REPLY [4 votes]: One of my favourite books for calculus of variations is the following:
"Introduction to the Calculus of Variations" by Bernard Dacorogna
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Introduction-Calculus-Variations-Bernard-Dacorogna/dp/1848163347/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1430733426&sr=8-2&keywords=introduction+to+the+calculus+of+variations
It is a great introductory book. It has plenty of solved problems to get familiar with the material. 
It starts with the basics on function spaces, and then introducing classical and direct methods. It then moves onto minimal surfaces and isoperimetric inequalities. 
It is a little expensive but it is worth it.