Best error bounds for quartic spline interpolation (Q1263025)

The existence and uniqueness of a certain interpolating quartic spline function is proved and error estimates are given for smooth functions involving their fifth order derivatives. In detail, let \(S_{k,4}\) denote the class of quartic spline functions s, i.e. \(s\in C^ 2[0,1]\) and \(s_{| [x_ i,x_{i+1}]}\) be a quartic polynomial, \(i=0,1,...,k-1\), for a given partition \(0=x_ 0<x_ 1<...<x_{k- 1}<x_ k=1\). The two main results of the paper are Theorem 1: Given arbitrary numbers \(f(x_ i)\), \(i=0,1,...,k\), \(f(z_ i)\), \(i=1,2,...,k\) \((2z_ i=x_ i+x_{i-1})\), \(f'(x_ 0)\), \(f'(x_ k)\), there exists a unique \(s\in S_{k,4}\) such that \(\quad s(x_ i)=f(x_ i),\quad i=0,1,...,k,\quad s'(x_ 0)=f'(x_ 0),s'(x_ k)=f'(x_ k);\) \(s(z_ i)=f(z_ i),\quad i=1,2,...,k.\) Theorem 2: Let \(f\in C^ 5[0,1]\). Let s be the spline function of Theorem 1. Then it holds that \[ | f(x)- s(x)| \leq \frac{C_ 0h^ 5}{5!}\max_{0\leq x\leq 1}| f^{(5)}(x)|,\quad where\quad C_ 0=(1/30+\sqrt{30}/3)(1/4- 1/\sqrt{30})^{1/2}=\max_{0\leq t\leq 1}| c(t)| \quad and\quad c(t)\quad is\quad given\quad as\quad \] \[ c(t)=(3t^ 2(1-2t)(1-t)^ 2+t(1-t)(1-2t))/6. \] Furthermore \[ | f'(x_ i)-s'(x_ i)| \leq \frac{h^ 4}{6!}\max_{0\leq x\leq 1}| f^{(5)}(\quad x)|,\quad i=1,2,...,k-1, \] which is the best possible estimate. Also \(C_ 0\) cannot be improved for an equally spaced partition. Finally, \(| f'(x)-s'(x)| \leq c_ 1\frac{h^ 4}{6!}\max_{0\leq x\leq 1}| f^{(5)}\quad (x)|.\)As an additional result, an error estimate is stated without proof for the approximation of continuous functions by suitably modified interpolating quartic splines involving the ordinary modulus of smoothness.