Skip to main content

Best proximity point theorems for reckoning optimal approximate solutions

Abstract

Given a non-self mapping from A to B, where A and B are subsets of a metric space, in order to compute an optimal approximate solution of the equation Sx=x, a best proximity point theorem probes into the global minimization of the error function xd(x,Sx) corresponding to approximate solutions of the equation Sx=x. This paper presents a best proximity point theorem for generalized contractions, thereby furnishing optimal approximate solutions, called best proximity points, to some non-linear equations. Also, an iterative algorithm is presented to compute such optimal approximate solutions.

MSC:90C26, 90C30, 41A65, 46B20, 47H10, 54H25.

1 Introduction

Best proximity point theory involves an intertwining of approximation and global optimization. Indeed, it explores the existence and computation of an optimal approximate solution of non-linear equations of the form Sx=x, where S is a non-self mapping in some framework. Such equations are confronted when we attempt the mathematical formulation of several problems. Given a non-self mapping S:AB, where A and B are non-empty subsets of a metric space, the equation Sx=x does not necessarily have a solution because of the fact that a solution of the preceding equation constrains the equality between an element in the domain and an element in the range of the mapping. In such circumstances, one raises the following questions:

  • Is it possible to find an optimal approximate solution with the least possible error?

  • If an approximate solution exists, is there any iterative algorithm to compute such a solution?

  • Can one have more than one approximate solution with the least possible error?

Best proximity point theory is an outgrowth of attempts in many directions to answer previously posed questions for various families of non-self mappings. In fact, a best proximity point theorem furnishes sufficient conditions for the existence and computation of an approximate solution x that is optimal in the sense that the error d( x ,S x ) assumes the global minimum value d(A,B). Such an optimal approximate solution is known as a best proximity point of the mapping S. It is straightforward to observe that a best proximity point becomes a solution of the equation in the special case that the domain of the mapping intersects the co-domain of the mapping. In essence, a best proximity point theorem delves into the global minimization of the error function xd(x,Sx) corresponding to the approximate solutions of the equation Sx=x. Many interesting best proximity point theorems for various classes of non-self mappings in different frameworks and best approximation theorems have been elicited in [117] and [1840]. The main objective of this article is to present, in the framework of complete metric spaces, a best proximity point theorem for a new family of non-self mappings, known as generalized contractions, thereby computing an optimal approximate solution to the equation Sx=x, where S is a generalized contraction. Further, some results in the literature are realizable as special cases from the preceding result.

2 Preliminaries

Throughout this section, we assume that A and B are non-empty subsets of a metric space. We recall the following notions that will be used in the sequel.

Definition 2.1 ([41])

A mapping S:AB is called a generalized contraction if, given real numbers a and b with 0<ab, there exists a real number α(a,b)[0,1) such that

ad( x 1 , x 2 )bd(S x 1 ,S x 2 )α(a,b)d( x 1 , x 2 )

for all x 1 , x 2 in A.

It is apparent that every generalized contraction is a contractive mapping and hence it must be continuous.

Definition 2.2 An element x in A is called a best proximity point of a mapping S:AB if it satisfies the condition that

d ( x , S x ) =d(A,B).

Due to the fact that d(x,Sx)d(A,B) for all x in A, the global minimum of the error function xd(x,Sx) corresponding to approximate solutions of the equation Sx=x is attained at any best proximity point. Moreover, if the mapping under consideration is a self-mapping, a best proximity point reduces to a fixed point.

Definition 2.3 ([21])

Given mappings S:AB and T:BA, it is stated that the pair (S,T) satisfies the min-max condition if, for all xA and yB, we have

d(A,B)<d(x,y)max(Sx,Ty)min(Sx,Ty),

where min(Sx,Ty) and max(Sx,Ty) are defined as

It is quite easy to observe that the min-max condition is less restrictive so that several classes of pairs of mappings meet this requirement.

Definition 2.4 ([21])

Given non-self mappings S:AB and T:BA, the pair (S,T) is said to be

  1. (a)

    a cyclic inequality pair if d(A,B)<d(x,y)d(Sx,Ty)d(x,y)

  2. (b)

    a cyclic contractive pair if d(A,B)<d(x,y)d(Sx,Ty)<d(x,y)

  3. (c)

    a cyclic expansive pair if d(A,B)<d(x,y)d(Sx,Ty)>d(x,y)

for all xA and yB.

It is remarked that cyclic inequality pairs, cyclic contractive pairs, and cyclic expansive pairs satisfy the min-max condition.

Definition 2.5 Given non-self mappings S:AB and T:BA, the pair (S,T) is said to form a generalized cyclic contraction if, given real numbers a and b with 0<ab, there exists a real number α(a,b)[0,1) such that

for all x in A and y in B.

It is straightforward to see that every generalized cyclic contraction forms a cyclic contractive pair and hence satisfies the min-max condition.

3 Generalized contractions

We are now ready to establish the following interesting best proximity point theorem for non-self generalized contractions.

Theorem 3.1 Let A and B be non-empty, closed subsets of a complete metric space. Let S:AB and T:BA satisfy the following conditions.

  1. (a)

    S is a generalized contraction.

  2. (b)

    T is a non-expansive mapping.

  3. (c)

    The pair (S,T) satisfies the min-max condition.

Further, for a fixed element x 0 in A, let

x 2 n + 1 =S x 2 n and x 2 n =T x 2 n 1 .

Then the sequence { x 2 n } must converge to a best proximity point x of S and the sequence { x 2 n + 1 } must converge to a best proximity point y of T such that

d ( x , y ) =d(A,B).

Further, if S has two distinct best proximity points, then d(A,B) does not vanish and hence the sets A and B should be disjoint.

Proof We define a sequence { b n } of real numbers as follows:

b n :=d( x 2 n , x 2 n + 2 )for n0.

In light of the fact that S is a generalized contraction mapping and T is a non-expansive mapping, it follows that { b n } is a bounded below, decreasing sequence of non-negative real numbers and hence converges to some non-negative real number, say b. Next, we shall prove that b vanishes. If b is positive, then choose a positive integer N such that

b b n (b+1)for all nN.

Because S is a generalized contraction mapping and T is a non-expansive mapping, we have

b N + 1 = d ( x 2 N + 2 , x 2 N + 4 ) = d ( T x 2 N + 1 , T x 2 N + 3 ) d ( x 2 N + 1 , x 2 N + 3 ) = d ( S x 2 N , S x 2 N + 2 ) α ( b , b + 1 ) d ( x 2 N , x 2 N + 2 ) = α ( b , b + 1 ) b N .

Similarly, we can prove that

b N + 2 α(b,b+1) b N + 1 [ α ( b , b + 1 ) ] 2 b N .

In general, we shall obtain that

b N + k [ α ( b , b + 1 ) ] k b N .

Letting k, we deduce that b vanishes, which is incompatible with our assumption. Therefore, it can be concluded that b n 0 as n.

Next, we shall prove that { x 2 n } is a Cauchy sequence. Let ϵ>0 be given. Since b n 0, it is possible to choose a positive integer N such that

b N =d( x 2 N , x 2 N + 2 )(ϵ/2) [ 1 α ( ϵ / 2 , ϵ ) ] .

We define

B[ x 2 N ,ϵ]:= { x A : d ( x , x 2 N ) ϵ } .

It suffices to prove that if x is an element of B[ x 2 N ,ϵ], then TSx must also be an element of B[ x 2 N ,ϵ]. We shall consider two different cases to ascertain the preceding assertion. Let x be an element of B[ x 2 N ,ϵ]. If x satisfies the condition that

d(x, x 2 N )ϵ/2,

then it follows that

d ( T S x , x 2 N ) d ( T S x , x 2 N + 2 ) + d ( x 2 N + 2 , x 2 N ) d ( S x , S x 2 N ) + d ( x 2 N + 2 , x 2 N ) d ( x , x 2 N ) + d ( x 2 N + 2 , x 2 N ) = d ( x , x 2 N ) + b N ϵ .

On the other hand, if x satisfies the condition that

ϵ/2<d(x, x 2 N )ϵ,

then it follows that

d ( T S x , x 2 N ) d ( T S x , x 2 N + 2 ) + d ( x 2 N + 2 , x 2 N ) d ( S x , S x 2 N ) + d ( x 2 N + 2 , x 2 N ) α ( ϵ / 2 , ϵ ) d ( x , x 2 N ) + d ( x 2 N + 2 , x 2 N ) = α ( ϵ / 2 , ϵ ) d ( x , x 2 N ) + b N ϵ .

Therefore, TSx should be an element of B[ x 2 N ,ϵ]. Consequently, x 2 n B[ x 2 N ,ϵ] for all nN. Thus, { x 2 n } should be a Cauchy sequence. In view of the completeness of the space, the sequence { x 2 n } should converge to some element x in A. In light of the continuity of S, it results that the sequence { x 2 n + 1 } should converge to some element y in B and y =S x . Further, because of the continuity of T, { x 2 n } should converge to T y . So, T y and x should be identical. Also, we can deduce that TS x = x and ST y = y . As a result, we have

min ( S x , T y ) =max ( S x , T y ) =d ( x , y ) .

On account of the fact that the pair (S,T) satisfies the min-max condition, we obtain that

d ( x , y ) =d(A,B).

Thus, we can deduce that

d ( x , T x ) =d ( x , y ) =d(A,B),d ( y , S y ) =d ( x , y ) =d(A,B).

We shall assume that the non-self mapping S has two distinct best proximity points x and  x . Then it follows that

d ( x , x ) d ( x , S x ) + d ( S x , S x ) + d ( x , S x ) α ( a , a ) d ( x , x ) + 2 d ( A , B ) where  a = d ( x , x ) < d ( x , x ) + 2 d ( A , B ) .

Thus, d(A,B)>0 and hence the sets A and B are disjoint. This completes the proof of the theorem. □

We illustrate the preceding best proximity point theorem by means of the following example.

Example 3.2 We shall consider the complete metric space C[0,2] with the supremum metric. For n=±1,±2,±3, , define f n :[0,2]R as

f n (x)={ 1 + ( x / n ) if  0 x 1 , 1 + ( 2 / n ) ( x / n ) otherwise .

Let f 0 :[0,2]R be defined as

f 0 (x)=1for all x[0,2].

Let A:={ f n :n=0,±1,±2,±3,} and B:={f:fA}.

Let S:AB be defined as

S( f n ){ f n + 1 if  n > 0 , f n 1 if  n < 0 , f 0 otherwise .

Let T:BA be defined as

T( f n ){ f n + 2 if  n > 0 , f n 2 if  n < 0 , f 0 otherwise .

Then, it is easy to see that S is a generalized contraction and T is a non-expansive mapping. Also, the pair (S,T) satisfies the min-max condition. However, (S,T) is neither a cyclic contractive pair nor a cyclic expansive pair. Finally, we can note that the element x = f 0 in A is a best proximity point of the mapping S and the element y = f 0 in B is a best proximity point of the mapping T such that d( x , y )=d(A,B)=2.

One can easily see that best proximity point Theorem 3.1 subsumes the following result.

Corollary 3.3 Let A and B be non-empty, closed subsets of a complete metric space. Let the non-self mappings S:AB and T:BA satisfy the following conditions.

  1. (a)

    S is a generalized contraction.

  2. (b)

    T is a non-expansive mapping.

  3. (c)

    (S,T) is a generalized cyclic contraction.

Further, for a fixed element x 0 in A, let

x 2 n + 1 =S x 2 n and x 2 n =T x 2 n 1 .

Then the sequence { x 2 n } converges to a best proximity point x of S and the sequence { x 2 n + 1 } converges to a best proximity point y of T such that

d ( x , y ) =d(A,B).

Moreover, if S has two distinct best proximity points, then d(A,B)>0 and hence the sets A and B must be disjoint.

Best proximity point Theorem 3.1 subsumes the following fixed point theorem, due to Krasnoselskii [41], which in turn extends the most interesting and well-known contraction principle.

Corollary 3.4 Let X be a complete metric space. If the self-mapping T:XX is a generalized contraction, then it has a unique fixed point x , and for every x in X, the sequence { T n (x)} converges to x .

The following best proximity point theorem, due to Basha [19], which extends the contraction principle to the case of non-self mappings, is a special case of Theorem 3.1.

Corollary 3.5 Let A and B be non-empty, closed subsets of a complete metric space. Let S:AB and T:BA be non-self mappings satisfying the following conditions.

  1. (a)

    S is a contraction.

  2. (b)

    T is a non-expansive mapping.

  3. (c)

    (S,T) is a cyclic contractive pair.

Further, for a fixed element x 0 in A, let

x 2 n + 1 =S x 2 n and x 2 n =T x 2 n 1 .

Then the sequence { x 2 n } converges to a best proximity point x of S and the sequence { x 2 n + 1 } converges to a best proximity point y of T such that

d ( x , y ) =d(A,B).

Moreover, if S has two distinct best proximity points, then d(A,B)>0 and hence the sets A and B must be disjoint.

References

  1. Abkar A, Gabeleh M: Generalized cyclic contractions in partially ordered metric spaces. Optim. Lett. 2012. doi:10.1007/s11590–011–0379-y

    Google Scholar 

  2. Abkar A, Gabeleh M: Best proximity points of non-self mappings. Top 2012. doi:10.1007/s11750–012–0255–7

    Google Scholar 

  3. Abkar A, Gabeleh M: Global optimal solutions of noncyclic mappings in metric spaces. J. Optim. Theory Appl. 2012, 153: 298–305. 10.1007/s10957-011-9966-4

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. Abkar A, Gabeleh M: Best proximity points for cyclic mappings in ordered metric spaces. J. Optim. Theory Appl. 2011, 150: 188–193. 10.1007/s10957-011-9810-x

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Abkar A, Gabeleh M: Best proximity points for cyclic mappings in ordered metric spaces. J. Optim. Theory Appl. 2011, 151: 418–424. 10.1007/s10957-011-9818-2

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. Al-Thagafi MA, Shahzad N: Best proximity sets and equilibrium pairs for a finite family of multimaps. Fixed Point Theory Appl. 2008., 2008: Article ID 457069

    Google Scholar 

  7. Al-Thagafi MA, Shahzad N: Best proximity pairs and equilibrium pairs for Kakutani multimaps. Nonlinear Anal. 2009, 70: 1209–1216. 10.1016/j.na.2008.02.004

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. Al-Thagafi MA, Shahzad N: Convergence and existence results for best proximity points. Nonlinear Anal. 2009, 70: 3665–3671. 10.1016/j.na.2008.07.022

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. Amini-Harandi A: Best and coupled best approximation theorems in abstract convex metric spaces. Nonlinear Anal. 2011, 74: 922–926. 10.1016/j.na.2010.09.045

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Amini-Harandi A: Best proximity points for proximal generalized contractions in metric spaces. Optim. Lett. 2012. doi:10.1007/s11590–012–0470-z

    Google Scholar 

  11. Eldred AA, Kirk WA, Veeramani P: Proximinal normal structure and relatively nonexpansive mappings. Stud. Math. 2005, 171: 283–293. 10.4064/sm171-3-5

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. Eldred AA, Veeramani P: Existence and convergence of best proximity points. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 2006, 323: 1001–1006. 10.1016/j.jmaa.2005.10.081

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. Anuradha J, Veeramani P: Proximal pointwise contraction. Topol. Appl. 2009, 156(18):2942–2948. 10.1016/j.topol.2009.01.017

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. Chandok S, Narang TD: Common fixed points of nonexpansive mappings with applications to best and best simultaneous approximation. J. Appl. Anal. 2012, 18: 33–46.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  15. Di Bari C, Suzuki T, Vetro C: Best proximity points for cyclic Meir-Keeler contractions. Nonlinear Anal. 2008, 69(11):3790–3794. 10.1016/j.na.2007.10.014

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  16. Karpagam S, Agrawal S: Best proximity point theorems for p -cyclic Meir-Keeler contractions. Fixed Point Theory Appl. 2009., 2009: Article ID 197308

    Google Scholar 

  17. Kim WK, Kum S, Lee KH: On general best proximity pairs and equilibrium pairs in free abstract economies. Nonlinear Anal. 2008, 68: 2216–2227. 10.1016/j.na.2007.01.057

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. Narang TD: Existence and unicity of best approximation and different types of continuity of proximity maps. Bull. Calcutta Math. Soc. 1977, 69: 39–43.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  19. Basha SS: Extensions of Banach’s contraction principle. Numer. Funct. Anal. Optim. 2010, 31: 569–576. 10.1080/01630563.2010.485713

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  20. Basha SS: Best proximity points: global optimal approximate solution. J. Glob. Optim. 2011, 49: 15–21. 10.1007/s10898-009-9521-0

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  21. Basha SS: Best proximity point theorems. J. Approx. Theory 2011, 163: 1772–1781. 10.1016/j.jat.2011.06.012

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  22. Basha SS: Best proximity point theorems generalizing the contraction principle. Nonlinear Anal. 2011, 74: 5844–5850. 10.1016/j.na.2011.04.017

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  23. Basha SS: Best proximity points: optimal solutions. J. Optim. Theory Appl. 2011, 151: 210–216. 10.1007/s10957-011-9869-4

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  24. Basha SS: Global optimal approximate solutions. Optim. Lett. 2011, 5: 639–645. 10.1007/s11590-010-0227-5

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  25. Basha SS, Shahzad N: Best proximity point theorems for generalized proximal contractions. Fixed Point Theory Appl. 2012. doi:10.1186/1687–1812–2012–42

    Google Scholar 

  26. Basha SS, Shahzad N, Jeyaraj R: Optimal approximate solutions of fixed point equations. Abstr. Appl. Anal. 2011., 2011: Article ID 174560. doi:10.1155/2011/174560

    Google Scholar 

  27. Basha SS, Shahzad N, Jeyaraj R: Best proximity points: approximation and optimization. Optim. Lett. 2011. doi:10.1007/s11590–011–0404–1

    Google Scholar 

  28. Basha SS: Common best proximity points: global minimal solutions. Top 2011. doi:10.1007/s11750–011–0171–2

    Google Scholar 

  29. Basha SS: Common best proximity points: global minimization of multi-objective functions. J. Glob. Optim. 2012, 54: 367–373. 10.1007/s10898-011-9760-8

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  30. Basha SS, Shahzad N, Jeyaraj R: Common best proximity points: global optimization of multi-objective functions. Appl. Math. Lett. 2011, 24: 883–886. 10.1016/j.aml.2010.12.043

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  31. Shahzad N, Basha SS, Jeyaraj R: Common best proximity points: global optimal solutions. J. Optim. Theory Appl. 2011, 148: 69–78. 10.1007/s10957-010-9745-7

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  32. Basha SS: Discrete optimization in partially ordered sets. J. Glob. Optim. 2012. doi:10.1007/s10898–011–9774–2

    Google Scholar 

  33. Basha SS: Global optimization in metric spaces with partial orders. Optimization 2012. doi:10.1080/02331934.2012.685238

    Google Scholar 

  34. Basha SS: Best proximity point theorems: an exploration of a common solution to approximation and optimization problems. Appl. Math. Comput. 2012, 218: 9773–9780. 10.1016/j.amc.2012.03.033

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  35. Sankar Raj V: A best proximity point theorem for weakly contractive non-self-mappings. Nonlinear Anal. 2011, 74: 4804–4808. 10.1016/j.na.2011.04.052

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  36. Sankar Raj V, Veeramani P: Best proximity pair theorems for relatively nonexpansive mappings. Appl. Gen. Topol. 2009, 10: 21–28.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  37. Vetro C: Best proximity points: convergence and existence theorems for p -cyclic mappings. Nonlinear Anal. 2010, 73: 2283–2291. 10.1016/j.na.2010.06.008

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  38. Wlodarczyk K, Plebaniak R, Banach A: Best proximity points for cyclic and noncyclic set-valued relatively quasi-asymptotic contractions in uniform spaces. Nonlinear Anal. 2009, 70: 3332–3341. 10.1016/j.na.2008.04.037

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  39. Wlodarczyk K, Plebaniak R, Banach A: Erratum to: ‘Best proximity points for cyclic and noncyclic set-valued relatively quasi-asymptotic contractions in uniform spaces’, [Nonlinear Anal. 70 (2009) 3332–3341, doi:10.1016/j.na.2008.04.037]. Nonlinear Anal. 2009, 71: 3583–3586.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  40. Wlodarczyk K, Plebaniak R, Obczyński C: Convergence theorems, best approximation and best proximity for set-valued dynamic systems of relatively quasi-asymptotic contractions in cone uniform spaces. Nonlinear Anal. 2010, 72: 794–805. 10.1016/j.na.2009.07.024

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  41. Krasnoselskii MA, Zabrejko P: Geometrical Methods in Nonlinear Analysis. Springer, Berlin; 1984.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to N Shahzad.

Additional information

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed equally and significantly in writing this article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Basha, S.S., Shahzad, N. & Jeyaraj, R. Best proximity point theorems for reckoning optimal approximate solutions. Fixed Point Theory Appl 2012, 202 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1687-1812-2012-202

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1687-1812-2012-202

Keywords