1. Introduction
In 1969, Fan [
1] established a crisp approximation theorem. Fan [
1] asserted: “suppose that 
 is a continuous map 
, where 
 is Hausdorff locally convex topological vector space and 
 is a nonempty compact convex subset with a semi-group norm 
p then there is a member 
 holding the assertion that 
”. This theorem enhanced an approximate answer of the fixed-point equation 
, where the function 
 has no fixed point, and 
 and 
 are nonempty sets. The distance 
 should be at least 
, and the best proximity point theorem guarantees the existence of a member of 
 such that 
; this member is called the best proximity point for map 
.
The crisp set theory was enhanced by the mathematician Zadeh [
2] in 1965 in his seminal paper by introducing a membership function. A membership function is defined from a nonempty set 
 to a closed interval 
, which means that a membership value of any member from the set 
 belongs to the closed interval 
; basically, a fuzzy set is a generalization of a characteristic function.
With the inspiration of this fuzzy theory, Kramosil and Michalak [
3] introduced the notion of a new distance space called fuzzy metric space, and the concept of this distance space was improved by George and Veeramani [
4] by defining a Hausdorff topology. Further, the fixed point theory associated with the fuzzy concept was first experimented with by Grabic [
5] by demonstrating fuzzy Banach [
6] and Edelstein [
7] contraction theorems.
In this work, we are investigating the uniqueness and existence of the best proximity point in a non-Archimedean fuzzy (distance) metric space, and also extending, generalizing and fuzzifying the proved results in various distance spaces. We define a few proximal fuzzy contractions to prove the propositions for a nonself function. Moreover, many supportive examples are given to present the fruitfulness of the given theorems.
  3. Main Results
Consider two nonempty subsets 
 and 
 of a fuzzy metric space 
. We use the following notations:
      where
      
We recall that  is a best proximity point of the map  if . We may observe a best proximity point turn to a fixed point if .
Definition 5 ([
11]). 
Suppose a pair of nonempty subsets  of a non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space  with . Then, the pair  possesses the fuzzy p-property ifwhere  and . The pair  has the fuzzy p-property.
Definition 6 ([
12]). 
A set  is said to be approximately compact with respect to  if every sequence  of  satisfying the assertion  for some  has a convergent subsequence. Every set is approximately compact with respect to itself. Now, we define -fuzzy proximal contractions of different categories.
Definition 7 (
-fuzzy proximal contraction of the first category).
A mapping  is said to be a -fuzzy proximal contraction of the first category iffor all ,  and . Definition 8 (
-fuzzy proximal contraction of the second category). 
A mapping  is said to be a -fuzzy proximal contraction of the second category iffor all ,  and . Next we need to define the fuzzy q-property.
Definition 9. Let  be any arbitrary point. Then, the mapping  has a fuzzy q-property if for a sequence  defined asthere exist two subsequences  and  of  such thatwhere , . Then,  Theorem 1. Suppose that two nonempty closed subsets  and  of a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space  with  and  satisfy the assertions:
 is continuous -proximal contraction of the first category;
;
The pair  has a fuzzy p-property;
The mapping  has a fuzzy q-property.
 Then there exists a unique  such that .
Proof.  Take 
. Since 
, there exists 
 such that 
 Moreover, since 
, there exists 
 such that 
 Inductively, we can find a sequence 
 in 
 such that
        
By assertion 3 and (
3), we get
        
Now we prove that 
 is convergent in 
. If there exists 
 such that
        
        by (
4), we obtain 
 implies 
. Therefore,
        
        from (
4) and (
5),
        
Therefore 
 for all 
 and 
 is convergent in 
. In addition,
        
This means that 
 is a best proximity point of a map 
, that is, the conclusion is immediate. Due to that, consider 
 for all 
. By assumption 
, 
 is a 
-fuzzy proximal contraction of the first category,
        
Since max 
, by  definition of a 
-function, there exists 
 such that
        
Since mapping 
 is strictly nondecreasing
        
Hence 
 is strictly nondecreasing, bounded from the above sequence, so 
 is convergent. Otherwise, there exists 
 such that
        
        for any 
 and 
.
        
        and by (
9) and (
10),
        
We must show that 
. Assume 
 for any 
 and by letting limit 
n tend to 
 in (
7) and using (
11),
        
        is a contradiction. Therefore,
        
Next we must show that 
 is a Cauchy sequence. Suppose 
 is not a Cauchy sequence, by Lemma 1, there exists 
 and two subsequences 
 and 
 of 
 such that
        
Again by using the fuzzy 
q-property,
        
Letting 
k tends to 
 and using (
12),
        
Since max , there exists  such that
.
Using (
13) and (
14) implies
        
This is a contradiction. Thus, the sequence  is a Cauchy sequence in . Since the space  is complete, given  is a closed subset of , there exists  such that .
Since 
 is continuous, 
 and the continuity of 
 implies 
. From (
3),
        
Thus  is a best proximity point of .
Suppose that 
 such that 
, that is, 
 and
        
Then by the 
p-property of the pair 
, we write 
.
        
        implies that 
 is a contradiction. Hence, the best proximity point is unique for the map 
.    □
 Example 1. Let  and define the usual metric Define a membership functionwhere  and . Clearly,  is a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space where ⊛ 
is a product t-norm. Let  and . Here, we have  and . Let  be defined by Consider  and .
Hence  holds fuzzy p-property.
Then there exist two subsequences  and  of  where  such that Hence  satisfies the q-property,  is continuous and . Define a strictly nondecreasing function  for any  such that  and suppose  where  such that .
Consider  and , Thus  is a proximal -fuzzy contraction of the first category. Thus, assumed assertions of Theorem 1 hold. Hence  has a unique best proximity point .
 Now we insert the next theorem by avoiding the continuity of the  nonself function.
Theorem 2. Suppose that two nonempty closed subsets  and  of a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space  with  and  satisfy the assertions:
 and  holds the fuzzy p-property;
 is a - fuzzy proximal contraction of the first category and  is continuous;
The mapping  has a fuzzy q-property.
For any sequence  in  and  satisfying  as n tends to  then .
Then there exists a unique  such that  for all .
 Proof.  The construction of the sequence 
 is similar to that in Theorem 1. Then, we must show that 
 is a Cauchy sequence, whose proof is also similar to that of Theorem 1. The completeness property of 
 and 
 being a closed subset of 
 ensure 
 converges to 
,
        
Letting 
n tend to 
,
        
        implies
        
        and using 
4, 
. Since 
, there exist 
 such that 
. Combining (
15) with (
3),
        
Letting 
,
        
        implies
        
Since max , there exists  such that
Since 
 is continuous,
        
        implies
        
        but the limit of the sequence is unique, so we conclude that 
, that is, 
. The best proximity point of 
 is unique similarly to the proof of the uniqueness part of Theorem 1.    □
 Example 2. Let . A membership function  is a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space with a product t-norm defined byfor all  and  where ρ is a standard metric. Define the two setsso that  and  for all . We can see that both nonempty subsets are  and  are closed in . Let us define  byClearly, , ,  and the hypotheses of Theorem 2 hold. Let  where  such that  and consider  where  such that . Consider  for some . Then, We investigate the following cases:
- (1)
 If  and  for all . We have - (2)
 If  and  for all , - (3)
 If  and , the fuzzy proximal contraction condition holds.
The property symmetry of membership function  covers all the possible cases, so we leave the details of these parts. Now, we conclude that the hypotheses of Theorem 2 are satisfied, and there exist  such that  for all .
 Theorem 3. Consider two nonempty closed subsets  and  of a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space  with . Assume that  is approximately compact with respect to  and  satisfies the following assertions:
 and  satisfies the fuzzy p-property;
 is a continuous - fuzzy proximal contraction of the second category;
 has a fuzzy q-property.
Then there exists a unique  such that . Moreover, for any fixed element , the sequence  defined byconverges to the best proximity point u. Further, if  is another best proximity point of , then .  Proof.  Similar to Theorem 1, we formulate a sequence 
 in 
 such that
        
        for all positive integers 
n. From the fuzzy 
p-property of the pair of maps 
 and 
,
        
If for some 
, 
, then
        
        thus the inclusion is immediate. Therefore, consider for any 
n in 
, 
. By 
, the mapping 
 is a 
- fuzzy proximal contraction of the second category,
        
        implies
        
Since 
 is strictly nondecreasing,
        
Thus the sequence 
, 
 is strictly nondecreasing and bounded from above, so the sequence 
 is convergent. In other words, there exists 
 such that
        
        for 
 and 
.
        
        by (
19) and (
20), for any 
, we have
        
Next we must show that 
. Assume 
 for any 
 and take the limit as 
n tends to 
 in (
18) and by (
21), we obtain
        
        a contradiction. Therefore,
        
Further we must prove that 
 is a Cauchy sequence. Suppose 
 is not a Cauchy sequence. By Lemma 1, there exists 
, 
 and subsequences 
 and 
 such that
        
By using the fuzzy 
q-property,
        
Letting 
k tend to 
, using (
23) and with the definition of the 
 function,
        
        a contradiction. Thus, 
 is a Cauchy sequence in 
. Since the space 
 is complete, and 
 is a closed subset of 
, there exists 
 such that 
.
Furthermore,
        
        and taking the limit as 
,
        
Since 
 is approximately compact with respect to 
, there exists a subsequence 
 of 
 converging to element 
u in 
. Thus,
        
Hence it implies 
, since 
. Since 
 is continuous and 
 is convergent to 
v,
        
Let 
 be another best proximity point of the mapping 
 such that 
. Since 
 is a 
-fuzzy proximal contraction of the second category,
        
        by the definition of a 
-function,
        
Moreover,
        
        implies that
        
        which is a contradiction, that is, 
u and 
 must be identical. Thus, 
 has a unique best proximity point.    □
 Our other result is for a nonself generalized -fuzzy proximal contraction of the first category and second category.
Theorem 4. Suppose that two nonempty closed subsets  and  of a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space  with  and  satisfy the assertions:
;
 satisfies fuzzy p-property;
 is a -fuzzy proximal contraction of the first and second category both;
 has a fuzzy q-property.
Then there exists a unique element  such that . Moreover, for any fixed element , a sequence  defined byconverges to the best proximity point μ. Further, if  is another best proximity point of  then .  Proof.  Similar to Theorem 1, formulate a sequence 
 in 
 such that
        
        for all non-negative integer 
n with 
. As in Theorem 1, we may show that the sequence 
 is a Cauchy sequence. Thus, the sequence converges to any element 
 in 
. As in Theorem 2, the sequence 
 can be shown to be a Cauchy sequence and to converge to some element 
v in 
. Thus,
        
Thus 
 becomes an element of 
. Since 
,
        
        for some element 
 in 
. By (
24) and (
25),
        
If for some 
, 
, consequently 
 implies 
, hence 
. Thus, the inclusion is immediate. Therefore, let, for any 
, 
. Since 
 is a 
-fuzzy proximal contraction of the first category,
        
        implies
        
Letting 
n tend to 
, we have 
, which implies that 
 and 
 must be identical. It follows that
        
Moreover, the uniqueness part will be similar to the steps followed for Theorem 1.    □
 Example 3. Let . Define a fuzzy set as follows:where  and , where ρ is a usual metric and  is a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric with a product t-norm. Let  and . Here,  and . Assume  is There exist two subsequences  and  of  where  such that Hence  satisfies the q-property. Now, for each , Hence  is approximately compact with regards to ,  satisfies the p-property,  is continuous and . Define a function  for any  such that  and  where  such that .
Consider  and  Let us choose  Hence  is a proximal -fuzzy contraction of the second category. Thus, all the assertions of Theorem 3 hold. Hence,  has a unique best proximity point .
 Now, we can procure a few corollaries.
Corollary 1. Suppose that two nonempty closed subsets  and  of a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space  with ,  and  satisfy the assertions:where ,  and  has the fuzzy p-property. Then, there exists a unique  such that .  Corollary 2. Let  and  be nonempty closed subsets of a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space  such that  is nonempty. Let  be a fuzzy - contraction for a nonself mapping such that . Assume that the pair  has the p-property. Then, there exists a unique  such that .
 Example 4. Suppose  andsuch that . Consider a fuzzy set  defined by  for all  and , where ρ is the usual metric such that  is a complete non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space with a product t-norm.
Let  be defined as  for all  such that .
Consider ,  and , , where . Thus the p-property  holds.
Consider  where  such that , and define a strictly increasing function such that  where . Now, we have to satisfy the - fuzzy proximal contraction condition. Hence  is a proximal -fuzzy contraction. Thus, all the assertions of Corollary 1 hold. Hence,  has a unique best proximity point .