Freeknot splines approximation of Sobolev-type classes of <Emphasis Type="Italic">s</Emphasis>-monotone functions

Let I be a finite interval, s ∈ ℕ₀, and r,ν,n ∈ ℕ. Given a set M, of functions defined on I, denote by M the subset of all functions y ∈ M such that the s-difference is nonnegative on I, ∀τ > 0. Further, denote by the Sobolev class of functions x on I with the seminorm . Also denote by Σ _ν,n , the manifold of all piecewise polynomials of order ν and with n – 1 knots in I. If ν ≥ max {r,s}, 1 ≤ p,q ≤ ∞, and (r,p,q) ≠ (1,1,∞), then we give exact orders of the best unconstrained approximation and of the best s-monotonicity preserving approximation . Part of this work was done while the first author visited Tel Aviv University in May 2003 and in March 2004.