|Math 231-Fall 2019|Section 4.

5|Page 1

Section 4.5: Dimension1

Concepts:
• Dimension.
• Relationships among the concepts of linear independence, basis, and dimension.

Learning Outcomes.
After completing this section, you should be able to:
• Find a basis for and the dimension of the solution space of a homogeneous linear
system.
• Use dimension to determine whether a set of vectors is a basis for a finite-
dimensional vector space.
• Extend a linearly independent set to a basis.

1
The materials of these lecture notes are based on the textbook of the course.
 |Math 231-Fall 2019|Section 4.5|Page 2

Introduction
We showed in the previous section that the standard basis for ℝ𝑛𝑛 has 𝑛𝑛 vectors and hence
that the standard basis for ℝ3 has three vectors, the standard basis for ℝ2 has two vectors,
and the standard basis for ℝ1 (= ℝ) has one vector.

Thus, there seems to be a link between the number of vectors in a basis and the dimension
of a vector space. We will develop this idea in this section.

Theorem (Number of Vectors in a Basis):

All bases for a finite-dimensional vector space have the same number of vectors.

Definition (The dimension)

The dimension of a finite-dimensional vector space 𝑉𝑉 is denoted by
dim(𝑉𝑉 )
and is defined to be the number of vectors in a basis for 𝑉𝑉.

In addition, the zero-vector space {𝟎𝟎} is defined to have dimension zero.

Example (Dimensions of Some Familiar Vector Spaces).

dim(ℝ𝑛𝑛 ) = 𝑛𝑛
dim(ℙ𝑛𝑛 ) = 𝑛𝑛 + 1
dim(𝑀𝑀𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 ) = 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

Example (Dimension of 𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬𝐬(𝑺𝑺)).

If 𝑆𝑆 = {𝐯𝐯1 , 𝐯𝐯2 , … , 𝐯𝐯𝑟𝑟 } is linear independent and 𝑊𝑊 = span(𝑆𝑆), then
dim(𝑊𝑊 ) = dim(𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠(𝑆𝑆)) = dim(𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠{𝒗𝒗1 , 𝒗𝒗2 , … , 𝒗𝒗𝑟𝑟 }) = 𝑟𝑟

Remark
If 𝑆𝑆 = {𝐯𝐯1 , 𝐯𝐯2 , … , 𝐯𝐯𝑟𝑟 } is linear dependent, then
dim(𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠(𝑆𝑆)) = dim(𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠{𝒗𝒗1 , 𝒗𝒗2 , … , 𝒗𝒗𝑟𝑟 }) < 𝑟𝑟

Theorem:
Let 𝑉𝑉 be an 𝑛𝑛-dimensional vector space and let {𝐯𝐯1 , 𝐯𝐯2 , … , 𝐯𝐯𝑛𝑛 } be any basis.
a) If a set in 𝑉𝑉 has more than 𝑛𝑛 vectors,
then it is linearly dependent.
 |Math 231-Fall 2019|Section 4.5|Page 3
b) If a set in 𝑉𝑉 has fewer than 𝑛𝑛 vectors,
then it does not span 𝑉𝑉.

Example.
Determine whether the vectors 𝐯𝐯1 = (1,0, −1), 𝐯𝐯2 = (1,1,0), 𝐯𝐯3 = (1,1,1) and
𝐯𝐯4 = (0,1,1) form a basis for ℝ3 .

Example.
Determine whether the vectors 𝐯𝐯1 = (1,0, −1) and 𝐯𝐯2 = (0,1,1) form a basis for ℝ3 .

Example.
Determine whether the vectors 𝐯𝐯1 = (1,0, −1,1) and 𝐯𝐯2 = (1,1,0,2) span ℝ4 .
 |Math 231-Fall 2019|Section 4.5|Page 4

Remark
We have shown that 𝑊𝑊 = {𝐱𝐱 ∈ ℝ𝑛𝑛 | 𝐴𝐴𝐱𝐱 = 𝟎𝟎} is a subspace of ℝ𝑛𝑛 . 𝑊𝑊 is called the solution
space of the homogeneous system 𝐴𝐴𝐱𝐱 = 𝟎𝟎.

Example (Dimension of a Solution Space).

Find a basis for and the dimension of the solution space 𝑊𝑊 of the homogeneous system
𝑥𝑥1 + 3𝑥𝑥2 − 2𝑥𝑥3 + 2𝑥𝑥5 =0
2𝑥𝑥1 + 6𝑥𝑥2 − 5𝑥𝑥3 − 2𝑥𝑥4 + 4𝑥𝑥5 − 3𝑥𝑥6 = 0
5𝑥𝑥3 + 10𝑥𝑥4 + +15𝑥𝑥6 = 0
2𝑥𝑥1 + 6𝑥𝑥2 + 8𝑥𝑥4 + 4𝑥𝑥5 + 18𝑥𝑥6 = 0
 |Math 231-Fall 2019|Section 4.5|Page 5

Example (Dimension of a Solution Space).

Find a basis for and the dimension of the solution space of the homogeneous system,
𝑥𝑥1 1 1 −1 𝑥𝑥1 0
𝑊𝑊 = ��𝑥𝑥2 � ∈ ℝ | �−2 −1
3
2 � �𝑥𝑥2 � = �0��
𝑥𝑥3 −1 0 1 𝑥𝑥3 0
 |Math 231-Fall 2019|Section 4.5|Page 6

Example.
Let 𝑊𝑊 = {(𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦, 𝑧𝑧, 𝑤𝑤) | 𝑧𝑧 = 𝑥𝑥 + 𝑦𝑦, 𝑤𝑤 = 𝑥𝑥 − 𝑦𝑦} be a subspace of ℝ4 . Find a basis and the
dimension of 𝑊𝑊.
 |Math 231-Fall 2019|Section 4.5|Page 7

Example.
Let 𝑊𝑊 = {(𝑥𝑥, 𝑦𝑦, 𝑧𝑧) | 𝑥𝑥 = 𝑦𝑦 = 𝑧𝑧} be a subspace of ℝ3 . Find a basis and the dimension of
𝑊𝑊.

Some Fundamental Theorems

Theorem (Plus/Minus Theorem):
Let 𝑆𝑆 be a nonempty set of vectors in a vector space 𝑉𝑉.
a) If 𝑆𝑆 is a linearly independent set, and if 𝐯𝐯 is a vector in 𝑉𝑉 that is outside of span(𝑆𝑆),
then the set 𝑆𝑆 ∪ {𝐯𝐯} that results by inserting 𝐯𝐯 into 𝑆𝑆 is still linearly independent.
b) If 𝐯𝐯 is a vector in 𝑆𝑆 that is expressible as a linear combination of other vectors in 𝑆𝑆, and
if 𝑆𝑆 − {𝐯𝐯} denotes the set obtained by removing 𝐯𝐯 from 𝑆𝑆, then 𝑆𝑆 and 𝑆𝑆 − {𝐯𝐯} span the
same space; that is, span(𝑆𝑆) = span(𝑆𝑆 − {𝐯𝐯}).

Remark
In general, to show that a set of vectors {𝐯𝐯1 , 𝐯𝐯2 , … , 𝐯𝐯𝑛𝑛 } is a basis for a vector space 𝑉𝑉, one
must show that:
1) the vectors are linearly independent,
2) the vectors span 𝑉𝑉.
 |Math 231-Fall 2019|Section 4.5|Page 8

However, if we happen to know that dim(𝑉𝑉 ) = 𝑛𝑛 (so that {𝐯𝐯1 , 𝐯𝐯2 , … , 𝐯𝐯𝑛𝑛 } contains the right
number of vectors for a basis), then it suffices to check only one condition, either
linear independence or spanning,
the remaining condition will hold automatically. This is the content of the following
theorem.

Theorem:
Let 𝑉𝑉 be an 𝑛𝑛-dimensional vector space and let 𝑆𝑆 be a set in 𝑉𝑉 with exactly 𝑛𝑛 vectors. Then
𝑆𝑆 is a basis for 𝑉𝑉 if and only if 𝑆𝑆 spans 𝑉𝑉 or 𝑆𝑆 is linearly independent.

Example.
Determine whether the vectors 𝐯𝐯1 = (−3,7) and 𝐯𝐯2 = (5,5) form a basis for ℝ2 .

Example.
Determine whether the vectors 𝐯𝐯1 = (2,0, −1), 𝐯𝐯2 = (4,0,7) and 𝐯𝐯3 = (−1,1,4) form a
basis for ℝ3 .
 |Math 231-Fall 2019|Section 4.5|Page 9

Theorem:
Let 𝑆𝑆 be a finite set of vectors in a finite-dimensional vector space 𝑉𝑉.
a) If 𝑆𝑆 spans 𝑉𝑉 but is not a basis for 𝑉𝑉, then 𝑆𝑆 can be reduced to a basis for 𝑉𝑉 by
removing appropriate vectors from 𝑆𝑆.
b) If 𝑆𝑆 is a linearly independent set that is not already a basis for 𝑉𝑉, then 𝑆𝑆 can be
enlarged to a basis for 𝑉𝑉 by inserting appropriate vectors into 𝑆𝑆.

Theorem:
If 𝑊𝑊 is a subspace of a finite-dimensional vector space 𝑉𝑉, then:
a) 𝑊𝑊 is finite-dimensional.
b) dim(𝑊𝑊 ) ≤ dim(𝑉𝑉 ).
𝑊𝑊 = 𝑉𝑉 if and only if dim(𝑊𝑊 ) = dim(𝑉𝑉 ).