Sharp approximations to the Bernoulli periodic functions by trigonometric polynomials

We obtain optimal trigonometric polynomials of a given degree $N$ that majorize, minorize and approximate in $L^1(\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z})$ the Bernoulli periodic functions. These are the periodic analogues of two works of F. Littmann that generalize a paper of J. Vaaler. As applications we provide the corresponding Erd\"{o}s-Tur\'{a}n-type inequalities, approximations to other periodic functions and bounds for certain Hermitian forms.Comment: 14 pages. Accepted for publication in the J. Approx. Theory. V2 has additional references and some typos correcte

Asymptotic approximations to the Hardy-Littlewood function

The function $Q(x):=\sum_{n\ge 1} (1/n) \sin(x/n)$ was introduced by Hardy and Littlewood [10] in their study of Lambert summability, and since then it has attracted attention of many researchers. In particular, this function has made a surprising appearance in the recent disproof by Alzer, Berg and Koumandos [1] of a conjecture by Clark and Ismail [2]. More precisely, Alzer et. al. [1] have shown that the Clark and Ismail conjecture is true if and only if $Q(x)\ge -\pi/2$ for all $x>0$. It is known that $Q(x)$ is unbounded in the domain $x \in (0,\infty)$ from above and below, which disproves the Clark and Ismail conjecture, and at the same time raises a natural question of whether we can exhibit at least one point $x$ for which $Q(x) < -\pi/2$. This turns out to be a surprisingly hard problem, which leads to an interesting and non-trivial question of how to approximate $Q(x)$ for very large values of $x$. In this paper we continue the work started by Gautschi in [7] and develop several approximations to $Q(x)$ for large values of $x$. We use these approximations to find an explicit value of $x$ for which $Q(x)<-\pi/2$.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

Bandlimited approximations to the truncated Gaussian and applications

In this paper we extend the theory of optimal approximations of functions $f: \R \to \R$ in the $L^1(\R)$-metric by entire functions of prescribed exponential type (bandlimited functions). We solve this problem for the truncated and the odd Gaussians using explicit integral representations and fine properties of truncated theta functions obtained via the maximum principle for the heat operator. As applications, we recover most of the previously known examples in the literature and further extend the class of truncated and odd functions for which this extremal problem can be solved, by integration on the free parameter and the use of tempered distribution arguments. This is the counterpart of the work \cite{CLV}, where the case of even functions is treated.Comment: to appear in Const. Appro

Computing hypergeometric functions rigorously

We present an efficient implementation of hypergeometric functions in arbitrary-precision interval arithmetic. The functions ${}_0F_1$, ${}_1F_1$, ${}_2F_1$ and ${}_2F_0$ (or the Kummer $U$-function) are supported for unrestricted complex parameters and argument, and by extension, we cover exponential and trigonometric integrals, error functions, Fresnel integrals, incomplete gamma and beta functions, Bessel functions, Airy functions, Legendre functions, Jacobi polynomials, complete elliptic integrals, and other special functions. The output can be used directly for interval computations or to generate provably correct floating-point approximations in any format. Performance is competitive with earlier arbitrary-precision software, and sometimes orders of magnitude faster. We also partially cover the generalized hypergeometric function ${}_pF_q$ and computation of high-order parameter derivatives.Comment: v2: corrected example in section 3.1; corrected timing data for case E-G in section 8.5 (table 6, figure 2); adjusted paper siz

Hermite polynomials in asymptotic representations of generalized Bernoulli,Euler, Bessel and Buchholz polynomials

This is a second paper on finite exact representations of certain polynomials in terms of Hermite polynomials. The representations have asymptotic properties and include new limits of the polynomials, again in terms of Hermite polynomials. This time we consider the generalized Bernoulli, Euler, Bessel and Buchholz polynomials. The asymptotic approximations of these polynomials are valid for large values of a certain parameter. The representations and limits include information on the zero distribution of the polynomials. Graphs are given that indicate the accuracy of the first term approximations