Past exam of the approximation theory and finite element methods course of the University of Oxford / 2010 / A / 2 / a / Solution

Let $e=u-p$. If $p$ minimizes the squared L2 norm error, then for any $q\in A$ the real quadratic $\Vert e-tq{\Vert }_2^2=\Vert e{\Vert }_2^2-2t(e,q)+t^2\Vert q{\Vert }_2^2$ has its minimum at $t=0$. Its derivative there is zero, giving $(e,q)=0$.

Conversely, if $e$ is orthogonal to $A$, then for every $q\in A$, $p-q\in A$ and the Pythagorean theorem for inner product spaces givesThis proves the equivalence and identifies $p$ as an orthogonal projection. It characterizes a minimizer whenever one exists; a general nonclosed vector subspace need not admit a projection for every $u$.