Linear Algebra

- Basis and Dimension

4.1
Basis & dimension:
If V is any vector space and S  v1 , v2 ,  , vr  is a finite
set of vectors in V, then S is called a basis for V if the following
two conditions hold:
linearly Bases Spans V
1.S is linearly independent. independent

2.S spans V.
V
The dimension of a vector space V is denoted by dim(V) and
is defined to be the number of vectors in a basis of V.
In addition, the zero vector space is defined to have
dimension zero.
4.2
 n
Example: R
Consider the vector space over ℝ and unit

vectors S  1, 0, 0,  , 0 , 0,1, 0,  , 0 ,  , 0, 0, 0,  , 1

Set of all these unit vectors is a linearly independent and it

n
will span the entire space R .

Hence it will form a basis. We will used to call it standard

n
basis of R .

Clearly, number of element in the basis is n. Hence the

n
dimension of R is n.
 M3
Consider the vector space of all 3⨉3 – matrices & the
 1 0 0   1 0 0  1 0 0  0 1 0  0 1 0 
set of vectors      
 0 0 0 ,  1 0 0 , 1 0 0 ,  0 0 0 ,  0 1 0 ,
  0 0   0 0 0  1 0 0   0 0 0   0 0 0  
 0 
S  
 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
 
0 1   0 0 1
  
 0 1 0 ,  0 0 0 ,  0 0 1 ,  0 0 1 
 

 0 1 0   0 0 0   0  
0 0   0 0 1  

We already saw that it is a linearly independent set. We
have to check whether it can span the space? or not?
1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
         
k1  0 0 0   k 2  1 0 0   k3 1 0 0   k 4  0 0 0   k5  0 1 0 
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0  0 0 0 0 0 0
        
0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1  0 0 1  a11 a12 a13 
         
 k 6  0 1 0   k 7  0 0 0   k8  0 0 1   k9  0 0 1   a21 a22 a23 
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 1  a 
        31 a32 a33 
 k1  k 2  k3 k 4  k5  k 6 k 7  k8  k9   a11 a12 a13 
   
 k 2  k3 k5  k 6 k8  k9    a21 a22 a23 
 k3 k6 k9  a a32 a33 
   31

 k1  k 2  k3  a11 k 4  k5  k 6  a12 k 7  k8  k9  a13 

 
 k 2  k3  a21 k5  k 6  a22 k8  k9  a23 
 k3  a31 k 6  a32 k9  a33 
 

It is very clear that, the above system of equations having

unique solution. Hence S span entire space V.

Therefore we can conclude that S is the basis of V.

The dimension of M 3 is 9.
Some vector space and its standard basis & dimension:
Vector Space Standard Basis Dimension
Rn (Set of all n- 1, 0, 0,  , 0 , 0,1, 0,  , 0 ,
tuples of real n
 , 0, 0, 0,  , 1
numbers)
R  (Set of all real 1, 0, 0,, 0,1, 0, ,
sequence or infinite  , 0, 0, 0, ,  is not a -
tuples) basis. (Find why? Assignment)
Pn (Set of all
polynomial of degree
less than or equal to n)
1, x , x 2
,, x n  n+1

Mn (Set of all n⨉n S  eij  M n | eij is matrix

matrices ) with 1 in ijth term 0 in rest  n  n  n2

M mn (Set of all m⨉n S  eij  M n | eij is matrix

m  n  mn
matrices ) with 1 in ijth term 0 in rest 
{0}( Zero Space) No basis. 0
Some theorems:
 All bases for a finite-dimensional vector space have the same
number of vectors.

 Let V be a n-dimensional vector space, and let S be any basis.

a) If a set has more than n vectors, then it is linearly
dependent.

b) If a set has fewer than n vectors, then it does not span V.

4.7
THEOREM: (Plus/Minus Theorem)
Let S be a nonempty set of vectors in a vector space V, then
we get the following
a) If S is a linearly independent set, and if v is a vector in V that
is outside of Span(S), then the set S⋃{v} that results by
inserting v into S is still linearly independent.
b) If v is a vector in S that is expressible as a linear combination
of other vectors in S, and if S-{v} denotes the set obtained
by removing v from S, then S-{v} span the same space; that
is,
Span (S) = Span (S – {v})
4.8
THEOREM:
Let V be an n-dimensional vector space, and let S be a set in V
with exactly n vectors. Then the following are equivalent
a)S is a basis for V;
b)S spans V;
c)S is linearly independent.

Example: Consider the vector space of all polynomials of

degree less than or equal to 2, P2 & the set of vectors


S  1, x  3, x 2  3 
Here it is very clear that S is linearly independent. Also,

dimension of P2 is 3. Hence S is basis of P2 .

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

 If W is a subspace of a finite-dimensional vector space V, then:

a) W is finite-dimensional;
b) dim(W) ≤ dim(V);
c) W = V if and only if dim(W) = dim(V).
 If dim(V) = n
V

linearly
Bases Spans V
independent

# (S) ≤ n # (S) ≥ n

# (S) = n

4.11
Thank
You
4.12