[Math] Showing that the minimum distance between a closed and compact set is attained

general-topologymetric-spaces

I have two subsets of $\mathbb{R}^n$, given by $K$ and $F$, $K$ is compact and $F$ is closed. I'm trying to show that $\inf\{ d(x,y) : x \in K, y \in F \}$ is attained.

My ideas so far:

  • I know that a continuous function on a compact set attains it's bounds. So that $f_y: K \to \mathbb{R}$ given by $f_y(x) = d(x,y)$ attains it's bounds for each $y$ but this doesn't quite give the result.

  • I need to use the fact we are working in $\mathbb{R}^n$ somehow, perhaps by using the equivalence between compactness and sequential compactness?

  • The fact $\mathbb{R}^n$ is Hausdorff, means that $K$ is also closed. So both sets contain their limit points.

Unfortunately, I am struggling to put these ideas together, thank you for any help

Best Answer

Hint

The property of $\mathbb{R}^{n}$ you need to use is that a set is compact if and only if it is bounded and closed.

Consider the set $F'= \{y \in F \mid d(K,y) \leqslant d(K,F)+1\}$. You can easily show that $d(K,F)=d(K,F')$ and I'm sure you can take it from there.