The subject of this book is the introduction and application of a new measure for smoothness offunctions. Though we have both previously published some articles in this direction, the results given here are new. Much of the work was done in the summer of 1984 in Edmonton when we consolidated earlier ideas and worked out most of the details of the text. It took another year and a half to improve and polish many of the theorems. We express our gratitude to Paul Nevai and Richard Varga for their encouragement. We thank NSERC of Canada for its valuable support. We also thank Christine Fischer and Laura Heiland for their careful typing of our manuscript. z. Ditzian V. Totik CONTENTS Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 PART I. THE MODULUS OF SMOOTHNESS Chapter 1. Preliminaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.1. Notations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1.2. Discussion of Some Conditions on cp(x). . . . • . . . . . . . • . . • . . • • . 8 . . . • . 1.3. Examples of Various Step-Weight Functions cp(x) . . • . . • . . • . . • . . . 9 . . • Chapter 2. The K-Functional and the Modulus of Continuity ... . ... 10 2.1. The Equivalence Theorem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 . . . . . . . . . 2.2. The Upper Estimate, Kr.tp(f, tr)p ~ Mw;(f, t)p, Case I . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 . . . 2.3. The Upper Estimate of the K-Functional, The Other Cases. . . . . . . . . . 16 . 2.4. The Lower Estimate for the K-Functional. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 . . . . . Chapter 3. K-Functionals and Moduli of Smoothness, Other Forms. 24 3.1. A Modified K-Functional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 . . . . . . . . . . 3.2. Forward and Backward Differences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 . . . . . . . 3.3. Main-Part Modulus of Smoothness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 . . . . . . .

We study in Part I of this monograph the computational aspect of almost all moduli of continuity over wide classes of functions exploiting some of their convexity properties. To our knowledge it is the first time the entire calculus of moduli of smoothness has been included in a book. We then present numerous applications of Approximation Theory, giving exact val ues of errors in explicit forms. The K-functional method is systematically avoided since it produces nonexplicit constants. All other related books so far have allocated very little space to the computational aspect of moduli of smoothness. In Part II, we study/examine the Global Smoothness Preservation Prop erty (GSPP) for almost all known linear approximation operators of ap proximation theory including: trigonometric operators and algebraic in terpolation operators of Lagrange, Hermite-Fejer and Shepard type, also operators of stochastic type, convolution type, wavelet type integral opera tors and singular integral operators, etc. We present also a sufficient general theory for GSPP to hold true. We provide a great variety of applications of GSPP to Approximation Theory and many other fields of mathemat ics such as Functional analysis, and outside of mathematics, fields such as computer-aided geometric design (CAGD). Most of the time GSPP meth ods are optimal. Various moduli of smoothness are intensively involved in Part II. Therefore, methods from Part I can be used to calculate exactly the error of global smoothness preservation. It is the first time in the literature that a book has studied GSPP.

The terms chaos and fractals have received widespread attention in recent years. The alluring computer graphics images associated with these terms have heightened interest among scientists in these ideas. This volume contains the introductory survey lectures delivered in the American Mathematical Society Short Course, Chaos and Fractals: The Mathematics Behind the Computer Graphics, on August 6-7, 1988, given in conjunction with the AMS Centennial Meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. In his overview, Robert L. Devaney introduces such key topics as hyperbolicity, the period doubling route to chaos, chaotic dynamics, symbolic dynamics and the horseshoe, and the appearance of fractals as the chaotic set for a dynamical system. Linda Keen and Bodil Branner discuss the Mandelbrot set and Julia sets associated to the complex quadratic family z -> z2 + c. Kathleen T. Alligood, James A. Yorke, and Philip J. Holmes discuss some of these topics in higher dimensional settings, including the Smale horseshoe and strange attractors. Jenny Harrison and Michael F. Barnsley give an overview of fractal geometry and its applications. -- from dust jacket.

Different aspects of harmonic analysis, complex analysis, sampling theory, approximation theory and related topics are covered in this volume. The topics included are Fourier analysis, Padè approximation, dynamical systems and difference operators, splines, Christoffel functions, best approximation, discrepancy theory and Jackson-type theorems of approximation. The articles of this collection were originated from the International Conference in Approximation Theory, held in Savannah, GA in 2017, and organized by the editors of this volume.

A guide to a rich and fascinating subject: algebraic curves and how they vary in families. Providing a broad but compact overview of the field, this book is accessible to readers with a modest background in algebraic geometry. It develops many techniques, including Hilbert schemes, deformation theory, stable reduction, intersection theory, and geometric invariant theory, with the focus on examples and applications arising in the study of moduli of curves. From such foundations, the book goes on to show how moduli spaces of curves are constructed, illustrates typical applications with the proofs of the Brill-Noether and Gieseker-Petri theorems via limit linear series, and surveys the most important results about their geometry ranging from irreducibility and complete subvarieties to ample divisors and Kodaira dimension. With over 180 exercises and 70 figures, the book also provides a concise introduction to the main results and open problems about important topics which are not covered in detail.

This edition has been updated to reflect recent advances in the theory of semistable coherent sheaves and their moduli spaces. The authors review changes in the field and point the reader towards further literature. An ideal text for graduate students or mathematicians with a background in algebraic geometry.

The moduli space Mg of curves of fixed genus g – that is, the algebraic variety that parametrizes all curves of genus g – is one of the most intriguing objects of study in algebraic geometry these days. Its appeal results not only from its beautiful mathematical structure but also from recent developments in theoretical physics, in particular in conformal field theory.