On Bernstein type inequalities and a weighted Chebyshev approximation problem on ellipses

Abstract

A classical inequality due to Bernstein which estimates the norm of polynomials on any given ellipse in terms of their norm on any smaller ellipse with the same foci is examined. For the uniform and a certain weighted uniform norm, and for the case that the two ellipses are not too close, sharp estimates of this type were derived and the corresponding extremal polynomials were determined. These Bernstein type inequalities are closely connected with certain constrained Chebyshev approximation problems on ellipses. Some new results were also presented for a weighted approximation problem of this type.