Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / ii / Paper 4 / 12F / b / Solution

Write each polynomial of degree at most $n$ as $T\mathbf{a}$ and defineThis is a continuous function, and the reverse triangle inequality together with part (a) givesConsequently $F$ is a coercive function. Choose $R$ so large that $F(\mathbf{a})>F(0)$ outside the closed Euclidean ball of radius $R$. That ball is compact, so the extreme value theorem supplies a minimizer ${\mathbf{a}}_{\ast }$ there. Then $P=T{\mathbf{a}}_{\ast }$ is a best uniform approximation to $f$ among polynomials of degree at most $n$.