Three-monotone spline approximation

For r≥3, n∈N and each 3-monotone continuous function f on [a,b] (i.e., f is such that its third divided differences [x₀,x₁,x₂,x₃]f are nonnegative for all choices of distinct points x₀,…,x₃ in [a,b]), we construct a spline s of degree r and of minimal defect (i.e., s∈C^r−1[a,b]) with n−1 equidistant knots in (a,b), which is also 3-monotone and satisfies ‖f−s‖_L∞[a,b]≤cω₄(f,n⁻¹,[a,b])_∞, where ω₄(f,t,[a,b])_∞ is the (usual) fourth modulus of smoothness of f in the uniform norm. This answers in the affirmative the question raised in [8, Remark 3], which was the only remaining unproved Jackson-type estimate for uniform 3-monotone approximation by piecewise polynomial functions (ppfs) with uniformly spaced fixed knots.Moreover, we also prove a similar estimate in terms of the Ditzian–Totik fourth modulus of smoothness for splines with Chebyshev knots, and show that these estimates are no longer valid in the case of 3-monotone spline approximation in the L_p norm with p<∞. At the same time, positive results in the L_p case with p<∞ are still valid if one allows the knots of the approximating ppf to depend on f while still being controlled.These results confirm that 3-monotone approximation is the transition case between monotone and convex approximation (where most of the results are “positive”) and k-monotone approximation with k≥4 (where just about everything is “negative”).     

On the Relation between Piecewise Polynomial and Rational Approximation in <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis></Subscript>(<Emphasis Type="Bold">R</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript>)

In the univariate case there are certain equivalences between the nonlinear approximation methods that use piecewise polynomials and those that use rational functions. It is known that for certain parameters the respective approximation spaces are identical and may be described as Besov spaces. The characterization of the approximation spaces of the multivariate nonlinear approximation by piecewise polynomials and by rational functions is not known. In this work we compare between the two methods in the bivariate case. We show some relations between the approximation spaces of piecewise polynomials defined on n triangles and those of bivariate rational functions of total degree n which are described by n parameters. Thus we compare two classes of approximants with the same number Cn of parameters. We consider this the proper comparison between the two methods.     

Simultaneous Approximation by Polynomial Projection Operators

Pointwise estimates are obtained for simultaneous approximation of a function f and its derivatives by means of an arbitrary sequence of bounded projection operators with some extra condition (1.3) (we do not require the operators to be linear) which map C_[-1,1] into polynomials of degree n, augmented by the interpolation of f at some points near ±1. The present result essentially improved those in [BaKi3], and several applications are discussed in Section 4.     

General characterization of best approximation and its application to uniform approximation with restricted ranges

Let R be a normed linear space, K be an arbitrary convex subset of an n-dimensional subspace Φ _n ⊂R. This paper first gives a general charactaerization for a best approximation from K in form of “zero in the convex hull”. Applying it to the uniform approximation by generalized polynomials with restricted ranges, we get further an alternation characterization. Our results ocntains the special cases of interpolatory approximation, positive approximation, copositive approximation, and the classical characterizations in forms of convex hull and alternation in approximation without restriction.     

High frequency scattering by convex curvilinear polygons

We consider the scattering of a time-harmonic acoustic incident plane wave by a sound soft convex curvilinear polygon with Lipschitz boundary. For standard boundary or finite element methods, with a piecewise polynomial approximation space, the number of degrees of freedom required to achieve a prescribed level of accuracy grows at least linearly with respect to the frequency of the incident wave. Here we propose a novel Galerkin boundary element method with a hybrid approximation space, consisting of the products of plane wave basis functions with piecewise polynomials supported on several overlapping meshes; a uniform mesh on illuminated sides, and graded meshes refined towards the corners of the polygon on illuminated and shadow sides. Numerical experiments suggest that the number of degrees of freedom required to achieve a prescribed level of accuracy need only grow logarithmically as the frequency of the incident wave increases.     

Convex polynomial and spline approximation inL p,O<p<∞

We prove that a convex functionf ∈ L _p[−1, 1], 0<p<∞, can be approximated by convex polynomials with an error not exceeding Cω ₃ ^ϕ (f,1/n)_p where ω ₃ ^ϕ (f,·) is the Ditzian-Totik modulus of smoothness of order three off. We are thus filling the gap between previously known estimates involving ω ₃ ^ϕ (f,1/n)_p, and the impossibility of having such estimates involving ω₄. We also give similar estimates for the approximation off by convexC ⁰ andC ¹ piecewise quadratics as well as convexC ² piecewise cubic polynomials. Communicated by Dietrich Braess     

On the relationship between functions with the same optimal knots in spline and piecewise polynomial approximation

The relationship between functions with the same optimal knots for L₂[0, 1] approximation by kth order splines or piecewise polynomials is investigated. It is shown that if two functions have positive continuous kth derivatives they will have the same optimal knots if and only if they differ by a polynomial of order k. An application to design selection for continuous time regression is considered and extensions to L_p approximation are also provided.     

Approximation ofk-Monotone Functions

It is shown that an algebraic polynomial of degree k−1 which interpolates ak-monotone functionfatkpoints, sufficiently approximates it, even if the points of interpolation are close to each other. It is well known that this result is not true in general for non-k-monotone functions. As an application, we prove a (positive) result on simultaneous approximation of ak-monotone function and its derivatives inL_p, 0<p<1, metric, and also show that the rate of the best algebraic approximation ofk-monotone functions (with bounded (k−2)nd derivatives inL_p, 1<p<∞, iso(n^−k/p).     

Positive linear operators which preserve x 2

A sequence of positive linear operators which approximate each continuous function on [0,1] while preserving the functione ₂ (x) =x ² is presented. Quantitative estimates are given and are compared with estimates of approximation by Bernstein polynomials. Connections with summability are discussed. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On optimal global error bounds obtained by scaled local error estimates

Summary In the second section a general method of obtaining optimal global error bounds by scaling local error estimates is developed. It is reduced to the solution of a fixpoint problem. In Sect. 3 we show more concrete error estimates reflecting a singularity of order . It is shown that under general circumstances an optimal global error bound is achieved by an (asymptotically) geometric mesh for the local error estimates. In the fourth section we specialize this to the best approximation ofg(x)x by piecewise polynomials with variable knots and degrees having a total numberN of parameters. This generalizes the result of R. DeVore and the author forg(x)=1. In the last section this problem is studied for the functione ^–x on (0, ). The exact asymptotic behaviour of the approximation withN parameters is determined toe ^qoN , whereq _o=0.895486 ....     

Property A in an Infinite-Dimensional Space. I

   Abstract. We prove that an infinite-dimensional space of piecewise polynomial functions of degree at most n-1 with infinitely many simple knots, n ≥ 2 , satisfies Property A. Apart from its independent interest, this result allows us to solve an open classical problem (n ≥ 3 ) in theory of best approximation: the uniqueness of best L ₁ -approximation by n -convex functions to an integrable, continuous function defined on a bounded interval. In this first part of the paper we prove the case n=2 and give key results in order to complete the general proof in the second part.     

On Bernstein–Markov-type inequalities for multivariate polynomials in -norm

Bernstein–Markov-type inequalities provide estimates for the norms of derivatives of algebraic and trigonometric polynomials. They play an important role in Approximation Theory since they are widely used for verifying inverse theorems of approximation. In the past decades these inequalities were extended to the multivariate setting, but the main emphasis so far was on the uniform norm. It is considerably harder to derive Bernstein–Markov-type inequalities in the L_q-norm, and it requires introduction of new methods. In this paper we verify certain Bernstein–Markov-type inequalities in L_q-norm on convex and star-like domains. Special attention is given to the question of how the geometry of the domain affects the corresponding estimates.     

Improving the Rate of Convergence of High-Order Finite Elements on Polyhedra I: A Priori Estimates

ABSTRACT

Let 𝒯 _k be a sequence of triangulations of a polyhedron Ω ? ? ⁿ and let S _k be the associated finite element space of continuous, piecewise polynomials of degree m. Let u _k  ∈ S _k be the finite element approximation of the solution u of a second-order, strongly elliptic system Pu = f with zero Dirichlet boundary conditions. We show that a weak approximation property of the sequence S _k ensures optimal rates of convergence for the sequence u _k . The method relies on certain a priori estimates in weighted Sobolev spaces for the system Pu = 0 that we establish. The weight is the distance to the set of singular boundary points. We obtain similar results for the Poisson problem with mixed Dirichlet–Neumann boundary conditions on a polygon.     

Universal Algorithms for Learning Theory. Part II: Piecewise Polynomial Functions

This paper is concerned with estimating the regression function f_ρ in supervised learning by utilizing piecewise polynomial approximations on adaptively generated partitions. The main point of interest is algorithms that with high probability are optimal in terms of the least square error achieved for a given number m of observed data. In a previous paper [1], we have developed for each β > 0 an algorithm for piecewise constant approximation which is proven to provide such optimal order estimates with probability larger than 1- m^-β. In this paper we consider the case of higher-degree polynomials. We show that for general probability measures ρ empirical least squares minimization will not provide optimal error estimates with high probability. We go further in identifying certain conditions on the probability measure ρ which will allow optimal estimates with high probability.     

Perfect spline approximation

Our study of perfect spline approximation reveals: (i) it is closely related to ΣΔ modulation used in one-bit quantization of bandlimited signals. In fact, they share the same recursive formulae, although in different contexts; (ii) the best rate of approximation by perfect splines of order r with equidistant knots of mesh size h is h^r−1. This rate is optimal in the sense that a function can be approximated with a better rate if and only if it is a polynomial of degree <r.The uniqueness of best approximation is studied, too. Along the way, we also give a result on an extremal problem, that is, among all perfect splines with integer knots on , (multiples of) Euler splines have the smallest possible norms.     

Polynomial approximation on the sphere using scattered data

We consider the problem of approximately reconstructing a function f defined on the surface of the unit sphere in the Euclidean space ℝ^{q +1} by using samples of f at scattered sites. A central role is played by the construction of a new operator for polynomial approximation, which is a uniformly bounded quasi‐projection in the de la Vallée Poussin style, i.e. it reproduces spherical polynomials up to a certain degree and has uniformly bounded L^p operator norm for 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞. Using certain positive quadrature rules for scattered sites due to Mhaskar, Narcowich and Ward, we discretize this operator obtaining a polynomial approximation of the target function which can be computed from scattered data and provides the same approximation degree of the best polynomial approximation. To establish the error estimates we use Marcinkiewicz–Zygmund inequalities, which we derive from our continuous approximating operator. We give concrete bounds for all constants in the Marcinkiewicz–Zygmund inequalities as well as in the error estimates. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Density of multivariate homogeneous polynomials on star like domains

The famous Weierstrass theorem asserts that every continuous function on a compact set in ${\mathbb{R}}^d$ can be uniformly approximated by algebraic polynomials. A related interesting problem consists in studying the same question for the important subclass of homogeneous polynomials containing only monomials of the same degree. The corresponding conjecture claims that every continuous function on the boundary of convex 0-symmetric bodies can be uniformly approximated by pairs of homogeneous polynomials. The main objective of the present paper is to review the recent progress on this conjecture and provide a new unified treatment of the same problem on non convex star like domains. It will be shown that the boundary of every 0-symmetric non convex star like domain contains an exceptional zero set so that a continuous function can be uniformly approximated on the boundary of the domain by a sum of two homogeneous polynomials if and only if the function vanishes on this zero set. Thus the Weierstrass type approximation problem for homogeneous polynomials on non convex star like domains amounts to the study of these exceptional zero sets. We will also present an extension of a theorem of Varjú which describes the exceptional zero sets for intersections of star like domains. These results combined with certain transformations of the underlying region will lead to the discovery of some new classes of convex and non convex domains for which the Weierstrass type approximation result holds for homogeneous polynomials.     

The Stability in W s,p (Γ) Spaces of L 2-Projections on Some Convex Sets

ABSTRACT

For a polygonal open bounded subset of ?², of boundary Γ, we study stability estimates for the projection operator from L ¹(Γ) on a convex set K _h of continuous piecewise affine functions satisfying bound constraints. We establish stability estimates in L ^p (Γ) and in W ^s,p (Γ) for 1 ≤ p ≤ ∞ and 0 < s ≤ 1. This kind of result plays a crucial role in error estimates for the numerical approximation of optimal control problems of partial differential equations with bilateral control constraints.     

A discontinuous interpolated finite volume approximation of semilinear elliptic optimal control problems

In this article, we describe a discontinuous finite volume method with interpolated coefficients for the numerical approximation of the distributed optimal control problem governed by a class of semilinear elliptic equations with control constraints. The proposed distributed control problem involves three unknown variable: control, state and costate. For the approximation of control, we have adopted three different methodologies: variational discretization, piecewise constant and piecewise linear discretization, while the approximation of state and costate variables is based on discontinuous piecewise linear polynomials. As the resulted scheme is non‐symmetric, optimize‐then‐discretize approach is used to approximate the control problem. Optimal a priori error estimates in suitable natural norms for state, costate and control variables are derived. Moreover, numerical experiments are presented to support the derived theoretical results. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 33: 2090–2113, 2017     

Piecewise Coapproximation and the Whitney Inequality

All cases of the validity of the piecewise q-monotone analog of the Whitney inequality are clarified. For similar analogs of the Jackson inequality negative results are proved.