Tight linear envelopes for splines

Summary. A sharp bound on the distance between a spline and its B-spline control polygon is derived. The bound yields a piecewise linear envelope enclosing spline and polygon. This envelope is particularly simple for uniform splines and splines in Bernstein-Bézier form and shrinks by a factor of 4 for each uniform subdivision step. The envelope can be easily and efficiently implemented due to its explicit and constructive nature. Received February 12, 1999 / Revised version received October 15, 1999 / Published online May 4, 2001     

Error bounds for Romberg quadrature

Denote by the error of a Romberg quadrature rule applied to the function f. We determine approximately the constants in the bounds of the types and for all classical Romberg rules. By a comparison with the corresponding constants of the Gaussian rule we give the statement “The Gaussian quadrature rule is better than the Romberg method” a precise meaning. Received September 10, 1997 / Revised version received February 16, 1998     

Exact bounds for the uniform approximation by spline interpolants

Summary. This paper completes a result of Reimer (1984) concerning -th-degree cardinal and -periodic interpolation. The method of proof is not restricted to the case of and being odd and seems to be more elementary. Received February 1, 1993 / Revised version received September 14, 1993     

Macro-elements and stable local bases for splines on Clough-Tocher triangulations

Summary. Macro-elements of arbitrary smoothness are constructed on Clough-Tocher triangle splits. These elements can be used for solving boundary-value problems or for interpolation of Hermite data, and are shown to be optimal with respect to spline degree. We conjecture they are also optimal with respect to the number of degrees of freedom. The construction provides local bases for certain superspline spaces defined over Clough-Tocher refinements of arbitrary triangulations. These bases are shown to be stable as a function of the smallest angle in the triangulation, which in turn implies that the associated spline spaces have optimal order approximation power. Received November 18, 1999 / Published online October 16, 2000     

An always successful method in univariate convex C^2 interpolation

Summary. We consider convex interpolation with cubic splines on grids built by adding two knots in each subinterval of neighbouring data sites. The additional knots have to be variable in order to get a chance to always retain convexity. By means of the staircase algorithm we provide computable intervals for the added knots such that all knots from these intervals allow convexity preserving spline interpolation of continuity. Received May 31, 1994 / Revised version received December 22, 1994     

Asymptotic error bounds of product formulas for functions with interior singularity

Summary. This paper is concerned with the convergence of product quadrature formulas of interpolatory type based on the zeros of Jacobi polynomials for the approximation of integrals of the type is supposed to be of the form not an integer, . The kernel can be a smooth one or it can contain an algebraic or a logarithmic singularity. Received January 20, 1995     

A class of bivariate orthogonal polynomials and cubature formula

Summary. The existence of Gaussian cubature for a given measure depends on whether the corresponding multivariate orthogonal polynomials have enough common zeros. We examine a class of orthogonal polynomials of two variables generated from that of one variable. Received February 9, 1993 / Revised version received January 18, 1994     

Sur l'erreur d'approximation par éléments finis en utilisant la méthode des plaquettes splines

Résumé. On établit des majorations de l'erreur d'approximation par éléments finis à partir de données de Lagrange pour des fonctions appartenant à un espace de Sobolev d'ordre convenable, lorsque les degrés de liberté sont approchés à l'aide de la méthode des plaquettes splines introduite par A. Le Méhauté (cf. [13], [14], [15]). Les résultats obtenus s'appliquent notamment à la construction de surfaces de classe . Received May 29, 1995 / Revised version received August 20, 1995     

On the optimal stability of bases of univariate functions

Summary. This paper is concerned with bases of finite dimensional spaces of univariate continuous functions which are optimally stable for evaluation. The only bases considered are those whose elements have no sign changes. Among these, an optimally stable basis is characterized under the assumption that the set of points where each basis function is nonzero is an interval. A uniqueness result and many examples of such optimally stable bases are also provided. Received May 26, 2000 / Published online August 17, 2001     

Convex interval interpolation using a three-term staircase algorithm

Motivated by earlier considerations of interval interpolation problems as well as a particular application to the reconstruction of railway bridges, we deal with the problem of univariate convexity preserving interval interpolation. To allow convex interpolation, the given data intervals have to be in (strictly) convex position. This property is checked by applying an abstract three-term staircase algorithm, which is presented in this paper. Additionally, the algorithm provides strictly convex ordinates belonging to the data intervals. Therefore, the known methods in convex Lagrange interpolation can be used to obtain interval interpolants. In particular, we refer to methods based on polynomial splines defined on grids with additional knots. Received September 22, 1997 / Revised version received May 26, 1998     

Nonnegative splines, in particular of degree five

Summary. We investigate splines from a variational point of view, which have the following properties: (a) they interpolate given data, (b) they stay nonnegative, when the data are positive, (c) for a given integer they minimize the functional for all nonnegative, interpolating . We extend known results for to larger , in particular to and we find general necessary conditions for solutions of this restricted minimization problem. These conditions imply that solutions are splines in an augmented grid. In addition, we find that the solutions are in and consist of piecewise polynomials in with respect to the augmented grid. We find that for general, odd there will be no boundary arcs which means (nontrivial) subintervals in which the spline is identically zero. We show also that the occurrence of a boundary arc in an interval between two neighboring knots prohibits the existence of any further knot in that interval. For we show that between given neighboring interpolation knots, the augmented grid has at most two additional grid points. In the case of two interpolation knots (the local problem) we develop polynomial equations for the additional grid points which can be used directly for numerical computation. For the general (global) problem we propose an algorithm which is based on a Newton iteration for the additional grid points and which uses the local spline data as an initial guess. There are extensions to other types of constraints such as two-sided restrictions, also ones which vary from interval to interval. As an illustration several numerical examples including graphs of splines manufactured by MATLAB- and FORTRAN-programs are given. Received November 16, 1995 / Revised version received February 24, 1997     

Error bounds for the large time step Glimm scheme applied to scalar conservation laws

Summary. In this paper we derive an error bound for the large time step, i.e. large Courant number, version of the Glimm scheme when used for the approximation of solutions to a genuinely nonlinear, i.e. convex, scalar conservation law for a generic class of piecewise constant data. We show that the error is bounded by for Courant numbers up to 1. The order of the error is the same as that given by Hoff and Smoller [5] in 1985 for the Glimm scheme under the restriction of Courant numbers up to 1/2. Received April 10, 2000 / Revised version received January 16, 2001 / Published online September 19, 2001     

An improved order of approximation for thin-plate spline interpolation in the unit disc

Summary. We show that the -norm of the error in thin-plate spline interpolation in the unit disc decays like , where , under the assumptions that the function to be approximated is and that the interpolation points contain the finite grid . Received February 13, 1998 / Published online September 24, 1999     

Polynomial interpolation of minimal degree

Summary. Minimal degree interpolation spaces with respect to a finite set of points are subspaces of multivariate polynomials of least possible degree for which Lagrange interpolation with respect to the given points is uniquely solvable and degree reducing. This is a generalization of the concept of least interpolation introduced by de Boor and Ron. This paper investigates the behavior of Lagrange interpolation with respect to these spaces, giving a Newton interpolation method and a remainder formula for the error of interpolation. Moreover, a special minimal degree interpolation space will be introduced which is particularly beneficial from the numerical point of view. Received June 9, 1995 / Revised version received June 26, 1996     

Bivariate spline interpolation at grid points

Summary. We describe algorithms for constructing point sets at which interpolation by spaces of bivariate splines of arbitrary degree and smoothness is possible. The splines are defined on rectangular partitions adding one or two diagonals to each rectangle. The interpolation sets are selected in such a way that the grid points of the partition are contained in these sets, and no large linear systems have to be solved. Our method is to generate a net of line segments and to choose point sets in these segments which satisfy the Schoenberg-Whitney condition for certain univariate spline spaces such that a principle of degree reduction can be applied. In order to include the grid points in the interpolation sets, we give a sufficient Schoenberg-Whitney type condition for interpolation by bivariate splines supported in certain cones. This approach is completely different from the known interpolation methods for bivariate splines of degree at most three. Our method is illustrated by some numerical examples. Received October 5, 1992 / Revised version received May 13, 1994     

Least supported bases and local linear independence

Summary. We introduce the concept of least supported basis, which is very useful for numerical purposes. We prove that this concept is equivalent to the local linear independence of the basis. For any given locally linearly independent basis we characterize all the bases of the space sharing the same property. Several examples for spline spaces are given. Received December 4, 1992 / Revised version received March 2, 1993     

Smolyak cubature of given polynomial degree with few nodes for increasing dimension

Summary. Some recent investigations (see e.g., Gerstner and Griebel [5], Novak and Ritter [9] and [10], Novak, Ritter and Steinbauer [11], Wasilkowski and Woźniakowski [18] or Petras [13]) show that the so-called Smolyak algorithm applied to a cubature problem on the d-dimensional cube seems to be particularly useful for smooth integrands. The problem is still that the numbers of nodes grow (polynomially but) fast for increasing dimensions. We therefore investigate how to obtain Smolyak cubature formulae with a given degree of polynomial exactness and the asymptotically minimal number of nodes for increasing dimension d and obtain their characterization for a subset of Smolyak formulae. Error bounds and numerical examples show their good behaviour for smooth integrands. A modification can be applied successfully to problems of mathematical finance as indicated by a further numerical example. Received September 24, 2001 / Revised version received January 24, 2002 / Published online April 17, 2002 RID="*" ID="*" The author is supported by a Heisenberg scholarship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

Error bounds for the finite element approximation of an incompressible material in an unbounded domain

Summary. In this paper we design high-order local artificial boundary conditions and present error bounds for the finite element approximation of an incompressible elastic material in an unbounded domain. The finite element approximation is formulated in a bounded computational domain using a nonlocal approximate artificial boundary condition or a local one. In fact there are a family of nonlocal approximate artificial boundary conditions with increasing accuracy (and computational cost) and a family of local ones for a given artificial boundary. Our error bounds indicate how the errors of the finite element approximations depend on the mesh size, the terms used in the approximate artificial boundary condition and the location of the artificial boundary. Numerical examples of an incompressible elastic material outside a circle in the plane is presented. Numerical results demonstrate the performance of our error bounds. Received August 31, 1998 / Revised version received November 6, 2001 / Published online March 8, 2002     

Peano kernels and bounds for the error constants of Gaussian and related quadrature rules for Cauchy principal value integrals

Summary. We show that, if (), the error term of every modified positive interpolatory quadrature rule for Cauchy principal value integrals of the type , , fulfills uniformly for all , and hence it is of optimal order of magnitude in the classes (). Here, is a weight function with the property . We give explicit upper bounds for the Peano-type error constants of such rules. This improves and completes earlier results by Criscuolo and Mastroianni (Calcolo 22 (1985), 391–441 and Numer. Math. 54 (1989), 445–461) and Ioakimidis (Math. Comp. 44 (1985), 191–198). For the special case of the Gaussian rule, we show that the restriction can be dropped. The results are based on a new representation of the Peano kernels of these formulae via the Peano kernels of the underlying classical quadrature formulae. This representation may also be useful in connection with some different problems. Received November 21, 1994     

Quadrilateral finite elements of FVS type and class C^\rho

Summary. Let be some partition of a planar polygonal domain into quadrilaterals. Given a smooth function , we construct piecewise polynomial functions of degree for odd, and for even on a subtriangulation of . The latter is obtained by drawing diagonals in each , and is a composite quadrilateral finite element generalizing the classical cubic Fraeijs de Veubeke and Sander (or FVS) quadrilateral. The function interpolates the derivatives of up to order at the vertices of . Polynomial degrees obtained in this way are minimal in the family of interpolation schemes based on finite elements. Received April 30, 1992 / Revised version received June 3, 1994