Finite-generator criterion for a natural uniform algebra (${\bigcap }_j{f}_j^{-1}(0)=\varnothing ⟹{\sum }_j{f}_j{g}_j=1$)

A uniform algebra is natural exactly when functions with no common zero generate the unit ideal. If a generated ideal is proper, it is contained in a maximal ideal. That maximal ideal is closed: the closure of a proper ideal stays proper, since an element within distance less than one of the identity is invertible by the Neumann series. The Gelfand-Mazur theorem identifies the maximal-ideal quotient with the complex numbers, yielding a character of an algebra. Naturality would make that character a common-zero evaluation, a contradiction. Conversely, the asserted unit-ideal property makes the zero sets of every finite collection in a character's kernel intersect. Compactness gives a point common to all these zero sets; applying this to $f-\phi (f)1$ proves $\phi (f)=f(x)$. For $C(K)$, one can directly take $g_j=\overline{f_j}/{\sum }_k|f_k{|}^2$.