In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, a Bernstein polynomial, named after Sergei Natanovich Bernstein, is a polynomial in the Bernstein form, that is a linear combination of Bernstein basis polynomials.
A numerically stable way to evaluate polynomials in Bernstein form is de Casteljau's algorithm.
Polynomials in Bernstein form were first used by Bernstein in a constructive proof for the Stone–Weierstrass approximation theorem. With the advent of computer graphics, Bernstein polynomials, restricted to the interval [0, 1], became important in the form of Bézier curves.
The n + 1 Bernstein basis polynomials of degree n are defined as
where is a binomial coefficient.
The Bernstein basis polynomials of degree n form a basis for the vector space Πn of polynomials of degree at most n.
A linear combination of Bernstein basis polynomials
is called a Bernstein polynomial or polynomial in Bernstein form of degree n.