In mathematics, moduli of smoothness are used to quantitatively measure smoothness of functions. Moduli of smoothness generalise modulus of continuity and are used in approximation theory and numerical analysis to estimate errors of approximation by polynomials and splines.
Contents
Moduli of smoothness
The modulus of smoothness of order
and
where we the finite difference (n-th order forward difference) are defined as
Properties
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. For
Applications
Moduli of smoothness can be used to prove estimates on the error of approximation. Due to property (6), moduli of smoothness provide more general estimates than the estimates in terms of derivatives.
For example, moduli of smoothness are used in Whitney inequality to estimate the error of local polynomial approximation. Another application is given by the following more general version of Jackson inequality:
For every natural number
where the constant