Inclusion Isotonicity of Convex–Concave Extensions for Polynomials Based on Bernstein Expansion

In this paper the expansion of a polynomial into Bernstein polynomials over an interval I is considered. The convex hull of the control points associated with the coefficients of this expansion encloses the graph of the polynomial over I. By a simple proof it is shown that this convex hull is inclusion isotonic, i.e. if one shrinks I then the convex hull of the control points on the smaller interval is contained in the convex hull of the control points on I. From this property it follows that the so-called Bernstein form is inclusion isotone, which was shown by a longish proof in 1995 in this journal by Hong and Stahl. Inclusion isotonicity also holds for multivariate polynomials on boxes. Examples are presented which document that two simpler enclosures based on only a few control points are in general not inclusion isotonic.