A remark on approximation with polynomials and greedy bases (Q2320023)

Let \((\mathbb{X}, \|\cdot\|)\) be a real Banach space and let \(\mathscr{B}=(e_n)_{n=1}^\infty\) be a semi-normalized (Schauder) basis of \(\mathbb{X}\) (basis of \(\mathbb{X}\)) with biorthogonal functionals \((e_n^*)_{n=1}^\infty\). Let \(P_m:\mathbb{X}\rightarrow\mathbb{X}\) be the sequence of projections. The basis \(\mathscr{B}\) is called monotone if \(\sup_{m\in\mathbb{N}}\|P_m\|=1\). For each finite subset \(A\subset\mathbb{N}\) and every scalar sequence \(\varepsilon=(\varepsilon_n)\) with \(|\varepsilon_n|=1\), \(n\in\mathbb{ N}\) (for short, \(|\varepsilon|=1\)), set \(\mathbf{1}_A:=\sum_{n\in A}e_n\) and \(\mathbf{1}_{\varepsilon A}:=\sum_{n\in A}\varepsilon_n e_n\). The democracy functions are defined as \[ h_l(m)=\inf_{|A|=m}\|\mathbf{1}_A\|,\quad h_r(m)=\sup_{|A|=m}\|\mathbf{1}_A\|,\quad m\in\mathbb{N}, \] and the superdemocracy functions as \[ h_l^*(m)=\inf_{|A|=m,\,|\varepsilon|=1}\|\mathbf{1}_A\|,\quad h_r^*(m)=\sup_{|A|=m,\,|\varepsilon|=1}\|\mathbf{1}_A\|,\quad m\in\mathbb{N}. \] The authors investigate properties of the \(m\)-th error of approximation by polynomials with constant coefficients \(\mathscr{D}_m(x)\) and with modulus-constant coefficients \(\mathscr{D}^*_m(x)\), introduced by \textit{P.\,M.\thinspace Berná} and \textit{Ó.\,Blasco} [J. Approx. Theory 215, 28--39 (2017; Zbl 1369.46014)], to study greedy bases in Banach spaces. They characterize when \(\liminf_m\mathscr{D}_m(x)\) and \(\liminf_m\mathscr{D}^*_m(x)\) are equivalent to \(\|x\|\) in terms of the democracy and superdemocracy functions, and provide sufficient conditions ensuring that \(\liminf_m\mathscr{D}^*_m(x)=\liminf_m\mathscr{D}_m(x)=\|x\|\), extending previous particular results. In particular, it is proved that the following assertions are equivalent: \begin{itemize} \item[(i)] there is a positive constant \(c>0\) such that \[ c\|x\|\leq\liminf_{m\to+\infty}\mathscr{D}^*_m(x)\leq\limsup_{m\to+\infty}\mathscr{D}^*_m(x)\leq\|x\|; \] \item[(ii)] \(h_l^*(m)\) and \(h_r^*(m)\) are comparable. Moreover, if \(\mathscr{B}\) is monotone and \(h_l^*(m)\to+\infty\) as \(m\to+\infty\), then \(\lim_{m\to+\infty}\mathscr{D}^*_m(x)=\|x\|\). \end{itemize} The case of almost-greedy bases is also considered.