This volume, which presents the cumulation of the authors' research in the field, deals with Lidstone, Hermite, Abel-Gontscharoff, Birkhoff, piecewise Hermite and Lidstone, spline and Lidstone-spline interpolating problems. Explicit representations of the interpolating polynomials and associated error functions are given, as well as explicit error inequalities in various norms. Numerical illustrations are provided of the importance and sharpness of the various results obtained. Also demonstrated are the significance of these results in the theory of ordinary differential equations such as maximum principles, boundary value problems, oscillation theory, disconjugacy and disfocality. The book should be useful for mathematicians, numerical analysts, computer scientists and engineers.

. The theory of difference equations, the methods used in their solutions and their wide applications have advanced beyond their adolescent stage to occupy a central position in Applicable Analysis. In fact, in the last five years, the proliferation of the subject is witnessed by hundreds of research articles and several monographs, two International Conferences and numerous Special Sessions, and a new Journal as well as several special issues of existing journals, all devoted to the theme of Difference Equations. Now even those experts who believe in the universality of differential equations are discovering the sometimes striking divergence between the continuous and the discrete. There is no doubt that the theory of difference equations will continue to play an important role in mathematics as a whole. In 1992, the first author published a monograph on the subject entitled Difference Equations and Inequalities. This book was an in-depth survey of the field up to the year of publication. Since then, the subject has grown to such an extent that it is now quite impossible for a similar survey, even to cover just the results obtained in the last four years, to be written. In the present monograph, we have collected some of the results which we have obtained in the last few years, as well as some yet unpublished ones.

In analysing nonlinear phenomena many mathematical models give rise to problems for which only nonnegative solutions make sense. In the last few years this discipline has grown dramatically. This state-of-the-art volume offers the authors' recent work, reflecting some of the major advances in the field as well as the diversity of the subject. Audience: This volume will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in mathematical analysis and its applications, whose work involves ordinary differential equations, finite differences and integral equations.

Given a function x(t) E c{n) [a, bj, points a = al < a2 < ...< ar = b and subsets aj of {0,1,"',n -1} with L:j=lcard(aj) = n, the classical interpolation problem is to find a polynomial P - (t) of degree at most (n - 1) n l such that P~~l(aj) = x{i)(aj) for i E aj, j = 1,2," r. In the first four chapters of this monograph we shall consider respectively the cases: the Lidstone interpolation (a = 0, b = 1, n = 2m, r = 2, al = a2 = {a, 2", 2m - 2}), the Hermite interpolation (aj = {a, 1,' ", kj - I}), the Abel - Gontscharoff interpolation (r = n, ai ~ ai+l, aj = {j - I}), and the several particular cases of the Birkhoff interpolation. For each of these problems we shall offer: (1) explicit representations of the interpolating polynomial; (2) explicit representations of the associated error function e(t) = x(t) - Pn-l(t); and (3) explicit optimal/sharp constants Cn,k so that the inequalities k I e{k)(t) I < C k(b -at- max I x{n)(t) I, 0 n - 1 n -, a$t$b - are satisfied. In addition, for the Hermite interpolation we shall provide explicit opti- mal/sharp constants C(n,p, v) so that the inequality II e(t) lip:::; C(n,p, v) II x{n)(t) 1111, p, v ~ 1 holds.

. The theory of difference equations, the methods used in their solutions and their wide applications have advanced beyond their adolescent stage to occupy a central position in Applicable Analysis. In fact, in the last five years, the proliferation of the subject is witnessed by hundreds of research articles and several monographs, two International Conferences and numerous Special Sessions, and a new Journal as well as several special issues of existing journals, all devoted to the theme of Difference Equations. Now even those experts who believe in the universality of differential equations are discovering the sometimes striking divergence between the continuous and the discrete. There is no doubt that the theory of difference equations will continue to play an important role in mathematics as a whole. In 1992, the first author published a monograph on the subject entitled Difference Equations and Inequalities. This book was an in-depth survey of the field up to the year of publication. Since then, the subject has grown to such an extent that it is now quite impossible for a similar survey, even to cover just the results obtained in the last four years, to be written. In the present monograph, we have collected some of the results which we have obtained in the last few years, as well as some yet unpublished ones.

In analysing nonlinear phenomena many mathematical models give rise to problems for which only nonnegative solutions make sense. In the last few years this discipline has grown dramatically. This state-of-the-art volume offers the authors' recent work, reflecting some of the major advances in the field as well as the diversity of the subject. Audience: This volume will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in mathematical analysis and its applications, whose work involves ordinary differential equations, finite differences and integral equations.