Locally tensor product functions

We present in this paper a family of functions which are tensor product functions in subdomains, while not having the usual drawback of functions which are tensor product functions in the whole domain. With these functions we can add more points in some region without adding points on lines parallel to the axes. These functions are linear combinations of tensor product polynomial B-splines, and the knots of different B-splines are less connected together than with usual polynomial B-splines. Approximation of functions, or data, with such functions gives satisfactory results, as shown by numerical experimentation. AMS subject classification 41A15, 41A63, 65Dxx