Polynomial approximation inL p(S) forp>0

For a simple polytopeS inR ^d andp>0 we show that the best polynomial approximationE _n(f)_p≡E_n(f)L_p(S) satisfies $$E_n \left( f \right)_p \leqslant C\omega _S^r \left( {f,\frac{1}{n}} \right)p,$$ where ω _S ^r is a measure of smoothness off. This result is the best possible in the sense that a weak-type converse inequality is shown and a realization of ω _S ^r (f,t)_p via polynomial approximation is proved.