Freeknot splines approximation of Sobolev-type classes of \(s\)-monotone functions (Q2642368)

Let \(I\) be a finite interval, \(s\in {\mathbb N}_0\), and \(r,\nu ,n\in {\mathbb N}\). Given a set \(M\) of functions defined on \(I\), denote by \(\Delta^{s}_{+} M\) the subset of all functions \(y\in M\) such that the \(s\)-difference \(\Delta^{s}_{\tau} y(\cdot)\) is nonnegative on \(I\), \(\forall \tau >0\). Denote by \(W^r_p\) the Sobolev class of functions \(x\) on \(I\) with seminorm \(\| x^{(r)} \| _{L_p} \leq 1\), and by \(\Sigma_{\nu,n}\) the manifold of all piecewise polynomials of order \(\nu\) and with \(n-1\) knots in \(I\). The authors prove that, if \(\nu \geq \max \{r,s\}\), \(1 \leq p,q \leq \infty\), and \((r,p,q)\not= (1,1,\infty)\), then the best unconstrained approximation \(E(\Delta^{s}_{+} W^r_p , \Sigma_{\nu,n})_{L_q}\) and the best \(s\)-monotonicity preserving approximation \(E(\Delta^{s}_{+} W^r_p , \Delta^{s}_{+} \Sigma_{\nu,n})_{L_q}\) are both of the magnitude \(n^{-\max \{r,s\}}\).