Polynomial approximation on convex subsets of R^n

Abstract: Let K be a closed bounded convex subset of

B b b R^{n}

; then by a result of the first author, which extends a classical theorem of Whitney there is a constant

w_{m} (K)

so that for every continuous function f on K there is a polynomial

p h i

of degree at most m-1 so that

|f(x)-phi(x)|le w_m(K)sup_{x,x+mhin K} |Delta_h^m(f;x)|.

The aim of this paper is to study the constant

w_{m} (K)

in terms of the dimension n and the geometry of K. For example we show that

w_{2} (K) l e f r a c 12 [l o g_{2} n] + f r a c 54

and that for suitable K this bound is almost attained. We place special emphasis on the case when K is symmetric and so can be identified as the unit ball of finite-dimensional Banach space; then there are connections between the behavior of

w_{m} (K)

and the geometry (particularly the Rademacher type) of the underlying Banach space. It is shown for example that if K is an ellipsoid then

w_{2} (K)

is bounded, independent of dimension, and

w_{3} (K) s i m l o g n .

We also give estimates for

w_{2}

and

w_{3}

for the unit ball of the spaces

e l l_{p}^{n}

where

1 l e p l e i n f t y .

Review text

Let \(K\) be a closed bounded convex subset of \(\mathbb{R}^n\); then by a result of the first author, which extends a classical theorem of Whitney there is a constant \(w_m(K)\) so that for every continuous function \(f\) on \(K\) there is a polynomial \(\varphi\) of degree at most \(m-1\) so that \[ \bigl|f(x)-\varphi (x) \bigr|\leq w_m(K) \sup_{x,x+mh\in K}\bigl|\Delta^m_h(f;x) \bigr |. \] The aim of this paper is to study the constant \(w_m(K)\) in terms of the dimension \(n\) and the geometry of \(K\). For example, we show that \(w_2(K) \leq{1 \over 2}[\log_2n]+ {5\over 4}\) and that for suitable \(K\) this bound is almost attained. We place special emphasis on the case when \(K\) is symmetric and so can be identified as the unit ball of finite-dimensional Banach space; then there are connections between the behavior of \(w_m(K)\) and the geometry (particularly the Rademacher type) of the underlying Banach space. It is shown, for example, that if \(K\) is an ellipsoid then \(w_2(K)\) is bounded, independent of dimension, and \(w_3(K)\sim \log n\). We also give estimates for \(w_2\) and \(w_3\) for the unit ball of the spaces \(\ell^n_p\) where \(1\leq p\leq\infty\).

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