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Synopsis We consider interpolation by piecewise polynomials, where the interpolation conditions are on certain derivatives of the function at certain points, specified by a finite incidence matrix E . Similarly the allowable discontinuities of the piecewise polynomials are specified by a finite incidence matrix F . We first find necessary conditions on ( E , F ) for the problem to be poised, that is to have a unique solution for any given data. The main result gives sufficient conditions on ( E , F ) for the problem to be poised, generalising a well-known result of Atkinson and Sharma. To this end we prove some results involving estimates of the numbers of zeros of the relevant piecewise polynomials.
T. N. T. Goodman (Thu,) studied this question.