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).