ABSTRACT
Most traditional methods for parametric curve approximation are based on approximation of functions. A parametric curve is approximated by applying standard approximation schemes for functions to the component functions of the curve. Recently, there has been increasing interest in what we call parametric methods, where the geometric properties of the curve are utilized for approximation purposes. One advantage of such schemes is that for polyno mial approximants of fixed degree, they often provide higher approximation rates than the traditional schemes; see [1] for an early result in this direction and [3] for a good bibliography.
