Approximations of set-valued functions by metric linear operators

In this paper we introduce new approximation operators for univariate set-valued functions with general compact images in Rⁿ. We adapt linear approximation methods for real-valued functions by replacing linear combinations of numbers with new metric linear combinations of finite sequences of compact sets, thus obtaining "metric analogues" of these operators for set-valued functions. The new metric linear combination extends the binary metric average of Artstein to several sets and admits any real coefficients. Approximation estimates for the metric analogue operators are derived. As examples we study metric Bernstein operators, metric Schoenberg operators, and metric polynomial interpolants.