Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2003/iii/paper-68/2/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 68 2 Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The degree- Bernstein basis isFor , every basis function is nonnegative, and the binomial theorem givesTherefore is a convex combination of its control points. By the definition of their convex hull,This includes the endpoints because and . It depends on the specified parameter interval: outside it the weights need not be nonnegative.
For , differentiating the basis and using the elementary binomial identities giveswhere out-of-range basis indices are zero. ThusHence the Bézier derivative control polygon has points , andIn particular the endpoint tangent vectors are and . For the curve is constant and its derivative is zero.
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