H-sets and best uniform approximation by solutions of elliptic differential equations (Q1119851)

The authors consider the approximation problem \(\inf_{w}\| f- w\|\), \((\| g\| =\sup_{x\in D\subset R}| g(x)|)\) for a given continuous function f where w is a solution of the elliptic partial differential equation \[ \sum^{n}_{i,j=1}a_{ij}(x)u_{x_ ix_ j}+\sum^{n}_{i=1}b_ i(x)u_{x_ i}=0. \] Applying the theory of H-sets, theorems of characterization and uniqueness of this best approximation are proved and an application to the case of harmonic approximations is given.