Quadratic energy minimization by the parallelogram law ($Q(v_j-v_k)=2Q(v_j)+2Q(v_k)-4Q((v_j+v_k)/2)$)

Let $V$ be a closed linear subspace of a real Hilbert space, and let $Q(v)=a(v,v)$ for a symmetric bounded bilinear form that is nonnegative on the ambient space and coercive on $V$. Then $Q$ has a unique minimizer on every closed affine subspace $g+V$. If $Q(v_j)\to m={\inf }_{g+V}Q$, the midpoint belongs to $g+V$ and the parallelogram law gives $Q(v_j-v_k)\le 2Q(v_j)+2Q(v_k)-4m\to 0$. Coercivity on $V$ makes the minimizing sequence Cauchy; completeness and continuity give a minimizer. The vanishing first variation is $a(u,v)=0$ for all $v\in V$. Two minimizers differ by $w\in V$ with $Q(w)=0$, so coercivity gives uniqueness. This proves the symmetric existence theorem directly, without invoking the Lax-Milgram theorem.