 Solution

Write ${\mathcal{P}}_n$ for the vector space of polynomials of polynomial degree at most $n$, and put $p_n(x)={\sum }_{j=0}^n{a}_j{x}^j$. As the question calls the weighted integral an inner product, its finiteness is implicit; for example, a positive integrable weight $w$ suffices for all the continuous functions involved here.

For every $q\in {\mathcal{P}}_n$, differentiating the squared weighted norm $\Vert f-p_n-tq{\Vert }_w^2$ at its minimum $t=0$ gives the orthogonality equationsIn particular, the requested linear system isIts Gram matrix $G_{kj}={\int }_{-1}^{1}w(x)x^{k+j}dx$ is a symmetric positive-definite matrix: for any nonzero vector $a$,Indeed a nonzero polynomial is nonzero on some open interval, and the weight is positive. Therefore $G$ is an invertible matrix, proving uniqueness. Conversely, if these equations hold, the Pythagorean theorem in an inner-product space gives, for every $q\in {\mathcal{P}}_n$,so the solution really is the unique best approximation.