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Source. Published p. 361, Lemma 26 (published scan).

Statement. Given finitely many pairs xi,yi∈Rdx_i,y_i\in\mathbb R^d, with repetitions permitted, there is an a∈Rda\in\mathbb R^d satisfying ∥xi−a∥=∥yi−a∥\|x_i-a\|=\|y_i-a\| for all ii if and only if every real relation ∑ici(xi−yi)=0\sum_i c_i(x_i-y_i)=0 satisfies ∑ici(∥xi∥2−∥yi∥2)=0\sum_i c_i(\|x_i\|^2-\|y_i\|^2)=0.

Complete proof. The distance equalities are equivalent to the linear system

2⟨xi−yi,a⟩=∥xi∥2−∥yi∥2.2\langle x_i-y_i,a\rangle=\|x_i\|^2-\|y_i\|^2.

A solution makes the stated compatibility necessary by taking linear combinations. Conversely, under that compatibility the assignment xi−yi↦(∥xi∥2−∥yi∥2)/2x_i-y_i\mapsto(\|x_i\|^2-\|y_i\|^2)/2 extends linearly to a well-defined functional on the span of the differences: every relation is sent to zero. Represent this functional by inner product with a vector in that span, using an orthonormal basis. That vector solves all equations. □\square

Bears on. #174.