Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2006 / ii / Paper 2 / 11G (Topics in Analysis)

All poles lie outside some circle $|z|=R$ with $R>1$. The rational function is holomorphic in that disc, so its Taylor series at zero converges uniformly on $|z|\le 1$. Its polynomial partial sums therefore approximate uniformly on $K$. If there are no finite poles, the function is already a polynomial.

Let $\mathcal{A}$ be the uniform closure on $K$ of polynomials. It is a closed algebra: uniform convergence on a compact set is preserved under sums and products. For $\lambda \in \Lambda$, put $q(z)=(z-\lambda {)}^{-1}\in \mathcal{A}$ and $d=\mathrm{dist}(\lambda ,K)>0$. If $|\mu -\lambda |<d/2$, then $\mu \notin K$ andThe series converges uniformly, its ratio having modulus at most one half. Each partial sum is in $\mathcal{A}$, so its limit is too. Hence $\mu \in \Lambda$ in this neighbourhood. For empty $K$, approximation is vacuous and the assertion is immediate.