How to define "closer to proportion"

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$\def\prop#1#2#3{#1:#2:#3}$Let's say I have a proportion, $\prop 135$

And then a set of other ones, $$ \begin{array}{l} \prop 235\\ \prop 145 \\ \prop 136 \end{array} $$

Which one is closer to $\prop 135$?

How to define it closer with mathematics?

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This depends on which metric you define. Possible metrics would, for example, result in converting the $a:b:c$ to a vector $$\left( \begin{matrix}a\\b\\c\end{matrix} \right)$$ And using some standard $\mathbb R^3$ metrics, like $$d(x,y) := \Vert x-y \Vert_p$$ For $1\leq p\leq \infty$. The results vary with the choice of $p$. For $p=\infty$, for example we have with enumeration $y_1, y_2, y_3$ of your alternatives and $x$ the first: $$\begin{align*} d(x,y_1) & = 1 \\ d(x,y_2) & = 1 \\ d(x,y_3) & = 1 \end{align*}$$ so they are all "equally close".


However, any of these $p$ will yield a distance of $1$, since the changes are always to add one to one "component".


Another choice for converting $a:b:c$ to a vector containing "proportions", would be $$\vec{x} = \left(\begin{matrix}a/b\\b/c\\c/a\end{matrix}\right)$$


With the second option and $p=2$ we get, according to MATLAB with the code
x = [1 3 5];
Y = [x;x;x] + eye(3);
xx = x./x([2 3 1]);
YY = Y./Y(:,[2 3 1]);
Z = [norm(xx - YY(1,:)); norm(xx - YY(2,:)); norm(xx - YY(3,:))]

we have $$Z \approx \left(\begin{matrix}2.5221\\0.2167\\1.0050\end{matrix}\right)$$ So $y_2$ is "closest" in this interpretation.