Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2012 / iii / Paper 70 / 4

Use the usual strictly increasing spline knot sequence, and initially assume $k\ge 2$. The explicit formula for the order-$k$ divided difference givesEach summand is a truncated power function in $t$, with its junction at $t_j$. It is a piecewise polynomial function of degree at most $k-1$ and has $k-2$ continuous derivatives. Finite summation preserves these properties.

For $t\ge t_{i+k}$ all summands vanish. For $t\le t_i$, all spline knot data come from the polynomial $u\mapsto (u-t{)}^{k-1}$. An order-$k$ divided difference annihilates a polynomial of smaller degree, so $M_i(t)=0$ there too. Thus the support is contained in $[t_i,t_{i+k}]$.

On the last open spline knot interval only the $j=i+k$ term survives; it is a nonzero multiple of $(t_{i+k}-t{)}^{k-1}$. On the first open spline knot interval, compare the truncated spline knot data with the untruncated polynomial data: only the $j=i$ value differs. Since the untruncated divided difference is zero, the result is a nonzero multiple of $(t_i-t{)}^{k-1}$. Consequently both outer pieces are nonzero, giving exact closed support. The Cox-de Boor recurrence used below also proves positivity throughout the open support. ThereforeThis is simple-knot B-spline regularity. For $k=1$ the B-splines are interval indicators; they are piecewise constant and need not be continuous. The notation $C^{k-2}$ should then be read as no continuity requirement, not as a classical negative-order differentiability space.

The divided difference is a finite linear combination of spline knot values, so it commutes with the finite integral. For every spline knot $t_j$ in the defining interval,It follows thatbecause the order-$k$ divided difference of a monic degree-$k$ polynomial is its leading coefficient. This proves the unit-integral normalization of a B-spline.

For the partition of unity, let $N_{i,r}$ denote the partition-normalized order-$r$ B-spline. The Cox-de Boor recurrence isIt follows by substituting the explicit divided difference formula into both sides and collecting each truncated power function. The starting case is $N_{i,1}=1_{[t_i,t_{i+1})}$, with endpoint conventions irrelevant when $r\ge 2$. The two weights are nonnegative wherever their respective lower-order B-splines are nonzero. Induction therefore gives $N_{i,r}\ge 0$ and strict positivity in its open support.

Extend the finite spline knot sequence strictly in both directions, with no finite accumulation. At each point only finitely many B-splines are nonzero. For the full extended family the sum is one for order one. Summing the Cox-de Boor recurrence, the combined coefficient of $N_{j,r-1}$ isInduction gives a full partition of unity at every order. On $t_k<t<t_{n+1}$, all extended order-$k$ functions with index $i\le 0$ or $i\ge n+1$ vanish by their supports. HenceThe same argument gives the useful global subpartition of unity for B-splines, $0\le {\sum }_{i=1}^n{N}_i(t)\le 1$, including outside the basic spline knot interval.