From Summary: "The application of the well-known basic principle of mechanics, the principle of Jourdain, to problems of the theory of the boundary layer leads to an equation from which the equations of Von Karman, Leibenson, and Golubev are derived as special cases. The given equation may be employed in other integral methods. The present paper deals with the method of the variation of the thickness of the boundary layer. A number of new approximate formulas valuable in aerodynamic calculations for the friction distribution are derived from this procedure. The method has been applied only to laminar boundary layers, but it seems probable that it may be generalized to include turbulent layers as well."