SPLINE FUNCTIONS AND APPLICATIONS.

Abstract

The document begins with a definition of a spline function, some general remarks about the nature and uses of such functions, an illustrative example, and a simple algebraic representation for any spline function. The important subclass of natural splines is defined in chapter 2 and the theorem of unique interpolation by natural splines and the well known minimal property of the smoothest interpolating natural spline is proven. Chapter 3 is concerned with the approximation of linear functionals. It includes Peano's theorem on remainders, A. Sard's theory of best approximation of linear functionals, and I.J. Schoenberg's discovery that finding the best approximation to a given functional in Sard's sense is equivalent to applying the functional to the corresponding natural spline interpolating function. Chapter 4 develops the properties of divided differences and of the B-splines, a special type of spline functions with limited support that constitute a basis for the class of spline functions and are important for computational purposes. Chapter 5 concerns a numerical algorithm for obtaining the natural spline interpolating function and also considers the smoothing natural splines resulting from Schoenberg's adaptation of E. T. Whittaker's smoothing method. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1969
Accession Number
AD0707620

Entities

People

  • Thomas N.E. Greville

Organizations

  • University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Interpolation
  • Mathematical Analysis
  • Mathematics

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.