If polynomials with integer monomial coefficients converge uniformly to , their values at zero and one are integers converging to and . A convergent integer sequence is eventually constant: once all its terms lie in an interval of length less than one they must agree. Hence both endpoint values are integers.
Conversely assume those values are integers. The rounded Bernstein polynomial is an integer-coefficient polynomial, because its displayed scalar coefficients are integers and each expands with integer coefficients. Part b gives its vanishing distance from . For completeness, the remaining uniform convergence follows directly from uniform continuity. Let have the binomial distribution with parameters ; then , , and . Splitting into and its complement, and applying Chebyshev's inequality, gives
where is the modulus of continuity. First choose to make the first term small uniformly, then take large. The triangle inequality now gives . We have proved the integer-coefficient polynomial approximation characterization
First prove necessity. If polynomials with integer coefficients converge to in the supremum norm, their values at and are convergent sequences of integers. Each such sequence is eventually constant, since a convergent sequence is Cauchy and two distinct integers are at distance at least one. Its limit is an integer. Thus .
For sufficiency we also need uniform convergence of the Bernstein polynomial to . Here is a direct argument. For , write . The binomial distribution has and . For every , uniform continuity of and the Chebyshev inequality give
First make small and then large; the bound is uniform in . Hence .
If the endpoints are integers, part (b) gives . Each coefficient multiplying in is an integer. Expanding by the binomial theorem therefore gives integer coefficients in the ordinary monomial basis. The triangle inequality proves . Thus the integer endpoint condition is necessary and sufficient for integer-coefficient polynomial approximation.