Let be a closed square and let be holomorphic on a neighbourhood of a slightly larger square. The Cauchy integral formula on the larger boundary is uniformly approximated on by Riemann sums of resolvents whose poles lie outside . Far-away resolvents have convergent geometric-series expansions in , and resolvent propagation across a complementary component moves this polynomial approximability to every pole outside the square. Approximating the finitely many resolvents in each Riemann sum by polynomials proves polynomial approximation on without invoking the general Runge theorem.
Let
and choose . Write for the positively oriented boundary of the square with . The Cauchy integral formula gives, for every ,
Because and are compact and separated by a positive distance, Riemann sums for this contour integral converge uniformly in . Thus, for any , there are points and constants such that
It remains to approximate each resolvent by polynomials on . Let be the set of for which is polynomially uniformly approximable on . If , the geometric series
shows that . Moreover, the resolvent propagation across a complementary component argument shows that is both open and closed relative to . The complement of a square is connected, and is nonempty, so .
In particular, every lies in . Approximate the finitely many resolvents accurately enough that their weighted sum differs by less than . Combining this with the Riemann-sum estimate produces a polynomial satisfying
This proves the claimed elementary polynomial approximation on a square.