A variation principle for energy differences between states of two different Hamiltonians

A modification of a variation principle due to Delves, is derived which permits the direct calculation of energy differences between states of two different Hamiltonians: [Δ ??] = 〈X₀| ??_x – W_x|X₁〉 – 〈Y₀|??_y – W_y|y₁〉 + 〈X₀| Δ ??|Y₀〉 · 〈X₀| Y₀〉^?1. Δ ?? = ??_y – ??_x, |X₀〉 and |Y₀〉 are the wave functions for the X and Y states and |X₁〉 and |Y₁〉 are functions defined in the text. The principle is applied to a few simple examples.