Interpolation and approximation by splines on [0,\(\infty)\) (Q2644874)

It is studied how interpolation and approximation by splines with infinitely many knots on the positive axis can be done. A complete characterization of the position of countable sets of points, which admit unique Lagrange interpolation by such splines, is given. It is turned out that an extended Schoenberg-Whitney-condition is sufficient as well as necessary. For best approximations some sufficient and some necessary conditions are given but only in special cases complete characterizations. At the end, examples show that the classical results of spline approximation like the theorem of Kolmogorov or the characterization theorem of Rice and Schumaker are not available for splines with a countable set of knots.