Best approximation and optimization (Q801499)

It is well known that the theory of best approximation may be regarded as a particular field of applications of optimization theory - a fact that was first observed in the 1960s. On the other hand many methods and results in the theory of best approximation are so strong that they can be applied in optimization theory. It is the aim of this expository paper to give a summary on some interactions between these two fields. The best characterization of its contents may be given by the following extract from chapter 1: ''In the present paper we want to show how some of the main ideas of the theory of best approximation have been generalized to yield new methods and results in optimization theory and how they have been developed further within the framework of optimization theory (often by authors extraneous to the theory of best approximation). The paper is expository in nature, but it contains also some new remarks. The intersection of this paper with the survey paper [the author, Abh. Akad. Wiss. DDR, Abt. Math. Naturwiss.- Tech. 1981, Nr. 2N, 273-285 (1981; Zbl 0472.41023)] is minimal. Furthermore, in order to keep the presentation short, we have omitted some topics (e.g., minimizing sequences, connections with Hahn-Banach extensions, generalizations of moment problems to systems) and we have given only some samples of references. Nevertheless, we hope that the present paper will stimulate the interest of some of the specialists in the theory of best approximation for this direction of research''.