Bernstein's theorem (approximation theory)

In approximation theory, Bernstein's theorem is a converse to Jackson's theorem. The first results of this type were proved by Sergei Bernstein in 1912.

For approximation by trigonometric polynomials, the result is as follows:

Let   f: [0, 2π] → ℂ   be a 2 π periodic function, and assume r is a positive integer, and that 0 < α < 1 . If there exists some fixed number $~~k(f)>0~~$ and a sequence of trigonometric polynomials $~~{\Bigl (}\ P_{n_{0}}(x)\ ,\ P_{n_{0}+1}(x)\ ,\ P_{n_{0}+2}(x)\ ,\ \ldots {\Bigr )}~~$ for which $~~\deg P_{n}=n~~$ and $~~\sup _{0\leq x\leq 2\pi }{\Bigl |}f(x)-P_{n}(x){\Bigr |}\leq {\frac {\ k(f)\ }{~~n^{r+\alpha }\ }}\ ,$ for every $\ n\geq n_{0}\ ,$ then   f(x) = P_n0(x) + φ(x) , where the function φ(x) has a bounded r th derivative which is α-Hölder continuous.

See also

• Bernstein's lethargy theorem
• Constructive function theory