Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/iii/paper-58/1/solution

The cubic spline is even, so the symmetry of the normalized B-splines gives . It therefore suffices to extract three coefficients. The two polynomial pieces join with matching values and first two derivatives at zero, so the function belongs to the stated cubic spline space. At zero its right-hand derivatives are
Use the supplied De Boor–Fix spline coefficient functional with the unnormalized knot polynomial . In this sign convention the coefficient is
For , . Taking the right-hand limit at kills the first three terms and gives . For the next two coefficients take the right-hand limit at zero. Their knot polynomials and derivatives there are
Consequently and . Although the third derivative jumps at zero, its multiplier vanishes for these two functionals; taking either one-sided limit gives the same coefficients. Symmetry gives and . Thus
For a normalized B-spline basis, define the synthesis linear map from the maximum coefficient norm into the spline space with its supremum norm. Nonnegativity and partition of unity give , including equality on the all-ones vector. The coefficient condition number of a normalized B-spline basis is
On , . The only interior extremum is at , where ; at zero and one, . Reflection therefore gives . Its largest absolute coefficient is , proving

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