Quadratic cardinal B-spline ($N_{i,3}(i+1)=N_{i,3}(i+2)=1/2$)

This degree-two Cardinal B-spline has three consecutive unit knot intervals as its support. Its first and last polynomial pieces are $(t-i{)}^2/2$ and $(i+3-t{)}^2/2$; on the middle interval it equals $3/4-(t-i-3/2{)}^2$. Its two interior integer values are $1/2$, and its endpoint values are zero. The maximum is $3/4$, emphasizing that partition normalization does not mean unit maximum height.

Sampling order-three Cardinal B-splines $N_j$ at $x_i=i+3/2$ gives $N_i(x_i)=3/4$, $N_{i-1}(x_i)=N_{i+1}(x_i)=1/8$, and all other entries zero. The B-spline collocation matrix therefore has row strict diagonal dominance margin at least $1/2$, giving inverse operator norm at most two. More precisely, with $q=3-2\sqrt{2}$, its absolute inverse row sums are $v_i=2[1-(q^i+q^{n+1-i})/(1+q^{n+1})]$. To see this, change signs by $D_{ii}=(-1{)}^i$: $DAD$ has negative off-diagonal entries and a nonnegative inverse given by a convergent Neumann series. Its inverse row sums solve $6v_i-v_{i-1}-v_{i+1}=8$, $v_0=v_{n+1}=0$. Thus $\Vert A^{-1}{\Vert }_{\infty }=v_{\lfloor (n+1)/2\rfloor }<2$, tending to two as the dimension grows.