On the existence of shortest networks in Banach spaces (Q382352)

For a Banach space contractively complemented in its bidual, a compactness argument is used to show that every finite set therein admits a Steiner point, i.e., a point which minimizes the sum of distances to members of the set. It has long been known that there is a Banach space (in fact, a hyperplane in a space of continuous functions) containing a 3-element subset which admits no Steiner point. Building on this example, it is shown that there exist arbitrarily large finite sets without Steiner points. The principal technique is to show that non-admission of a Steiner point is a property which is stable under small perturbations with respect to the Hausdorff metric.