  Meminductors and memcapacitors do not allow a Lagrangian formulation in the
classical sense since these elements are nonconservative in nature and the
associated energies are not state functions. To circumvent this problem, a
different configuration space is considered that, instead of the usual loop
charges, consist of time-integrated loop charges. As a result, the
corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations provide a set of integrated Kirchhoff
voltage laws in terms of the element fluxes. Memristive losses can be included
via a second scalar function that has the dimension of action. A dual
variational principle follows by considering variations of the integrated node
fluxes and yields a set of integrated Kirchhoff current laws in terms of the
element charges. Although time-integrated charge is a somewhat unusual quantity
in circuit theory, it may be considered as the electrical analogue of a
mechanical quantity called absement. Based on this analogy, simple mechanical
devices are presented that can serve as didactic examples to explain
memristive, meminductive, and memcapacitive behavior.
