Package for Calculating with B-Splines

Eight FORTRAN subprograms for dealing computationally with piecewise polynomial functions (of one variable) are presented. The package is built around an algorithm for the stable evaluation of B-splines of arbitrary order and with knots of arbitrary multiplicity. Four examples illustrate how one might use these routines: interpolation by splines of general order k (and not necessarily at the knots); least squares approximation by splines to discrete data; the determination of the derivative of a spline with respect to a knot; and the approximate solution of an ordinary differential equation with rather general side conditions by collocation.