MATH 304

Linear Algebra
Lecture 16:
Basis and dimension.
Basis
Denition. Let V be a vector space. A linearly
independent spanning set for V is called a basis.
Equivalently, a subset S V is a basis for V if any
vector v V is uniquely represented as a linear
combination
v = r
1
v
1
+ r
2
v
2
+ + r
k
v
k
,
where v
1
, . . . , v
k
are distinct vectors from S and
r
1
, . . . , r
k
R.
Examples. Standard basis for R
n
:
e
1
= (1, 0, 0, . . . , 0, 0), e
2
= (0, 1, 0, . . . , 0, 0),. . . ,
e
n
= (0, 0, 0, . . . , 0, 1).
Matrices
_
1 0
0 0
_
,
_
0 1
0 0
_
,
_
0 0
1 0
_
,
_
0 0
0 1
_
form a basis for M
2,2
(R).
Polynomials 1, x, x
2
, . . . , x
n1
form a basis for
P
n
= {a
0
+ a
1
x + + a
n1
x
n1
: a
i
R}.
The innite set {1, x, x
2
, . . . , x
n
, . . . } is a basis
for P, the space of all polynomials.
Bases for R
n
Theorem Every basis for the vector space R
n
consists of n vectors.
Theorem For any vectors v
1
, v
2
, . . . , v
n
R
n
the
following conditions are equivalent:
(i) {v
1
, v
2
, . . . , v
n
} is a basis for R
n
;
(ii) {v
1
, v
2
, . . . , v
n
} is a spanning set for R
n
;
(iii) {v
1
, v
2
, . . . , v
n
} is a linearly independent set.
Dimension
Theorem Any vector space V has a basis. All
bases for V are of the same cardinality.
Denition. The dimension of a vector space V,
denoted dimV, is the cardinality of its bases.
Remark. By denition, two sets are of the same cardinality if
there exists a one-to-one correspondence between their elements.
For a nite set, the cardinality is the number of its elements.
For an innite set, the cardinality is a more sophisticated
notion. For example, Z and R are innite sets of dierent
cardinalities while Z and Q are innite sets of the same
cardinality.
Examples. dimR
n
= n
M
2,2
(R): the space of 22 matrices
dimM
2,2
(R) = 4
M
m,n
(R): the space of mn matrices
dimM
m,n
(R) = mn
P
n
: polynomials of degree less than n
dimP
n
= n
P: the space of all polynomials
dimP =
{0}: the trivial vector space
dim{0} = 0
Problem. Find the dimension of the plane
x + 2z = 0 in R
3
.
The general solution of the equation x + 2z = 0 is
_
_
_
x = 2s
y = t
z = s
(t, s R)
That is, (x, y, z) = (2s, t, s) = t(0, 1, 0) + s(2, 0, 1).
Hence the plane is the span of vectors v
1
= (0, 1, 0)
and v
2
= (2, 0, 1). These vectors are linearly
independent as they are not parallel.
Thus {v
1
, v
2
} is a basis so that the dimension of
the plane is 2.
How to nd a basis?
Theorem Let S be a subset of a vector space V.
Then the following conditions are equivalent:
(i) S is a linearly independent spanning set for V,
i.e., a basis;
(ii) S is a minimal spanning set for V;
(iii) S is a maximal linearly independent subset of V.
Minimal spanning set means remove any element from this
set, and it is no longer a spanning set.
Maximal linearly independent subset means add any
element of V to this set, and it will become linearly
dependent.
Theorem Let V be a vector space. Then
(i) any spanning set for V can be reduced to a
minimal spanning set;
(ii) any linearly independent subset of V can be
extended to a maximal linearly independent set.
Equivalently, any spanning set contains a basis,
while any linearly independent set is contained in a
basis.
Corollary A vector space is nite-dimensional if
and only if it is spanned by a nite set.
How to nd a basis?
Approach 1. Get a spanning set for the vector
space, then reduce this set to a basis.
Proposition Let v
0
, v
1
, . . . , v
k
be a spanning set
for a vector space V. If v
0
is a linear combination
of vectors v
1
, . . . , v
k
then v
1
, . . . , v
k
is also a
spanning set for V.
Indeed, if v
0
= r
1
v
1
+ + r
k
v
k
, then
t
0
v
0
+ t
1
v
1
+ + t
k
v
k
=
= (t
0
r
1
+ t
1
)v
1
+ + (t
0
r
k
+ t
k
)v
k
.
How to nd a basis?
Approach 2. Build a maximal linearly independent
set adding one vector at a time.
If the vector space V is trivial, it has the empty basis.
If V = {0}, pick any vector v
1
= 0.
If v
1
spans V, it is a basis. Otherwise pick any
vector v
2
V that is not in the span of v
1
.
If v
1
and v
2
span V, they constitute a basis.
Otherwise pick any vector v
3
V that is not in the
span of v
1
and v
2
.
And so on. . .
Problem. Find a basis for the vector space V
spanned by vectors w
1
= (1, 1, 0), w
2
= (0, 1, 1),
w
3
= (2, 3, 1), and w
4
= (1, 1, 1).
To pare this spanning set, we need to nd a relation
of the form r
1
w
1
+r
2
w
2
+r
3
w
3
+r
4
w
4
= 0, where
r
i
R are not all equal to zero. Equivalently,
_
_
1 0 2 1
1 1 3 1
0 1 1 1
_
_
_
_
_
_
r
1
r
2
r
3
r
4
_
_
_
_
=
_
_
0
0
0
_
_
.
To solve this system of linear equations for
r
1
, r
2
, r
3
, r
4
, we apply row reduction.
_
_
1 0 2 1
1 1 3 1
0 1 1 1
_
_

_
_
1 0 2 1
0 1 1 0
0 1 1 1
_
_

_
_
1 0 2 1
0 1 1 0
0 0 0 1
_
_

_
_
1 0 2 0
0 1 1 0
0 0 0 1
_
_
(reduced row echelon form)
_
_
_
r
1
+ 2r
3
= 0
r
2
+ r
3
= 0
r
4
= 0

_
_
_
r
1
= 2r
3
r
2
= r
3
r
4
= 0
General solution: (r
1
, r
2
, r
3
, r
4
)=(2t, t, t, 0), t R.
Particular solution: (r
1
, r
2
, r
3
, r
4
) = (2, 1, 1, 0).
Problem. Find a basis for the vector space V
spanned by vectors w
1
= (1, 1, 0), w
2
= (0, 1, 1),
w
3
= (2, 3, 1), and w
4
= (1, 1, 1).
We have obtained that 2w
1
+ w
2
w
3
= 0.
Hence any of vectors w
1
, w
2
, w
3
can be dropped.
For instance, V = Span(w
1
, w
2
, w
4
).
Let us check whether vectors w
1
, w
2
, w
4
are
linearly independent:

1 0 1
1 1 1
0 1 1

1 0 1
1 1 0
0 1 0

1 1
0 1

= 1 = 0.
They are!!! It follows that V = R
3
and
{w
1
, w
2
, w
4
} is a basis for V.
Vectors v
1
= (0, 1, 0) and v
2
= (2, 0, 1) are
linearly independent.
Problem. Extend the set {v
1
, v
2
} to a basis for R
3
.
Our task is to nd a vector v
3
that is not a linear
combination of v
1
and v
2
.
Then {v
1
, v
2
, v
3
} will be a basis for R
3
.
Hint 1. v
1
and v
2
span the plane x + 2z = 0.
The vector v
3
= (1, 1, 1) does not lie in the plane
x + 2z = 0, hence it is not a linear combination of
v
1
and v
2
. Thus {v
1
, v
2
, v
3
} is a basis for R
3
.
Vectors v
1
= (0, 1, 0) and v
2
= (2, 0, 1) are
linearly independent.
Problem. Extend the set {v
1
, v
2
} to a basis for R
3
.
Our task is to nd a vector v
3
that is not a linear
combination of v
1
and v
2
.
Hint 2. At least one of vectors e
1
= (1, 0, 0),
e
2
= (0, 1, 0), and e
3
= (0, 0, 1) is a desired one.
Let us check that {v
1
, v
2
, e
1
} and {v
1
, v
2
, e
3
} are
two bases for R
3
:

0 2 1
1 0 0
0 1 0

= 1 = 0,

0 2 0
1 0 0
0 1 1

= 2 = 0.