Characterization of an extremal sum of ridge functions (Q2372916)

The theory and applications of ridge functions is a field in approximation theory closely related to applications with differential equations (so-called plane waves) and to the field of radial basis functions. In this paper, a special aspect to the theory is studied, namely the best approximation with ridge functions in \(d\) unknowns. This best approximation is characterised and an explicit formula for the error function is derived. Further, the important question of density with ridge functions within other function spaces (e.g. those of continuous functions over compact sets) is addressed.