B-splines and Hermite–Padé approximants to the exponential function

Abstract

This paper is the continuation of a work initiated in [P. Sablonnière, An algorithm for the computation of Hermite–Padé approximations to the exponential function: divided differences and Hermite–Padé forms. Numer. Algorithms 33 (2003) 443–452] about the computation of Hermite–Padé forms (HPF) and associated Hermite–Padé approximants (HPA) to the exponential function. We present an alternative algorithm for their computation, based on the representation of HPF in terms of integral remainders with B-splines as Peano kernels. Using the good properties of discrete B-splines, this algorithm gives rise to a great variety of representations of HPF of higher orders in terms of HPF of lower orders, and in particular of classical Padé forms. We give some examples illustrating this algorithm, in particular, another way of constructing quadratic HPF already described by different authors. Finally, we briefly study a family of cubic HPF.