What does it mean for a value to be minimised?

Question

I am trying to solve this problem, but I do not understand what is meant bythe following expression being minimised

$$ D = P_{k} + P_{j} $$

For each pair $(j,k)$ the expression $|P_k-P_j|$ has some value. Find the pair for which this value is smallest. — copper.hat, Nov 16 '13 at 15:42

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 16 '13 at 15:41

A value is minimised when it becomes as small as it can.

I expect that your $P_k$ and $P_j$ are points. Then $\|P_k-P_j\|$ is the distance between any two points. To minimise $\|P_k-P_j\|$ is to find the two points that are closest to one another out of all the other possible pairs of points.

What does it mean for a value to be minimised?

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