A note on rational approximation to \((1-x)^{\alpha}\) (Q789638)

The author proves in an elegant manner that the exact order of \(\inf \sup_{0\leq x\leq 1}| f(x)-p(x)/q(x)|\) where the infimum is taken over all polynomials p,q of degree at most n and having nonnegative real coefficients, for \(f(x)=(1-x)^{\alpha}, 0<\alpha \leq 1\), is just \(n^{-\alpha}\). This generalizes the case where \(\alpha =1/2\) in which an upper bound has been given by P. Bundschuh and a lower bound by A. R. Reddy.