Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / iii / Paper 339 / 1 / a

The Euclidean projection onto a convex set is nonexpansive, and $x^{\ast }=P_C(x^{\ast })$ because the optimum is feasible. Therefore the projected subgradient method satisfiesThe subgradient inequality gives $⟨g_i,x_i-x^{\ast }⟩\ge f(x_i)-f^{\ast }$, while Lipschitz continuity of the finite convex function gives $\Vert g_i{\Vert }_2\le G$. HenceSumming this telescoping inequality for $0\le i<k$, and then bounding the smallest term by the average, yieldsWriting $D=\Vert x_0-x^{\ast }{\Vert }_2$, the right-hand side is minimized by the constant step sizeSubstitution givesIf $D=0$, the initial point is already optimal and the result is immediate.