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Basis and Dimension

The document discusses the basis and dimension of vector spaces. It defines a basis as a minimal set of vectors that spans a vector space. To be a basis, a set must be linearly independent and span the entire space. The dimension of a vector space is the number of vectors in any basis, and it is the same for every basis. Examples show the standard basis for R3 and that the set {x2, x, 1} is a basis for the vector space of polynomials of degree ≤ 2.

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Sumanth Gowda
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45 views

Basis and Dimension

The document discusses the basis and dimension of vector spaces. It defines a basis as a minimal set of vectors that spans a vector space. To be a basis, a set must be linearly independent and span the entire space. The dimension of a vector space is the number of vectors in any basis, and it is the same for every basis. Examples show the standard basis for R3 and that the set {x2, x, 1} is a basis for the vector space of polynomials of degree ≤ 2.

Uploaded by

Sumanth Gowda
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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8/5/23, 9:25 PM Basis and Dimension

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Basis of a vector space


Let V be a vector space. A minimal set of vectors in V that spans
V is called a basis for V .

Equivalently, a basis for V is a set of vectors that

is linearly independent;

spans V .

As a result, to check if a set of vectors form a basis for a vector


space, one needs to check that it is linearly independent and that it
spans the vector space. If at least one of these conditions fail to
hold, then it is not a basis.

Examples

a
⎡ ⎤
1. In R , every vector has the form ⎢ b ⎥ where a, b, c are real
3

⎣ ⎦
c

numbers. Note that R3 is spanned by the set

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8/5/23, 9:25 PM Basis and Dimension

⎧ 1 0 0
⎪⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎫
⎪

⎨⎢ 0 ⎥ , ⎢ 1 ⎥ , ⎢ 0 ⎥⎬ since
⎩
⎪⎣ ⎭
⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦⎪
0 0 1

1 0 0 a
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
a⎢0⎥ + b⎢1⎥ + c⎢0⎥ = ⎢ b⎥ . Clearly,
⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦
0 0 1 c

1 0 0 0
⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤
a⎢0⎥ + b⎢1⎥ + c⎢0⎥ = ⎢0⎥ if and only if
⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦
0 0 1 0

a = b = c = 0 . Hence, the set is a linearly independent set


3 3
that spans R and is therefore a basis for R . (Note that the set
⎧ 1 0 0 1
⎪⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤ ⎡ ⎤⎫
⎪

⎨⎢ 0 ⎥ , ⎢ 1 ⎥ , ⎢ 0 ⎥ , ⎢ 1 ⎥⎬ is not a basis for R3 even


⎩
⎪⎣ ⎭
⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦⎪
0 0 1 1

though it spans R3 since it is not a linearly independent set.)

2. The set {x2 , x, 1} is a basis for the vector space of


polynomials in x with real coefficients having degree at most 2.

Observe that R3 has infinitely many vectors yet we managed to


have a description of all of them using just three vectors. We can
think of a basis as a minimal way to describe a vector space which

makes many types of computations over vector spaces feasible.

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8/5/23, 9:25 PM Basis and Dimension

Dimension of a vector space


Let V be a vector space not of infinite dimension. An important
result in linear algebra is the following:

Every basis for V has the same number of vectors.

The number of vectors in a basis for V is called the dimension of


V , denoted by dim(V ) . For example, the dimension of R is n .
n

The dimension of the vector space of polynomials in x with real


coefficients having degree at most two is 3. A vector space that
consists of only the zero vector has dimension zero.

It can be shown that every set of linearly independent vectors in V


has size at most dim(V ). For example, a set of four vectors in R3
cannot be a linearly independent set.

Quick Quiz

Exercises
4
1. Let F denote a field. Give a basis for F .   Hide answer

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8/5/23, 9:25 PM Basis and Dimension

There are many possible answers. One possible answer is


⎧⎡ 1 ⎤ ⎡ 0 ⎤ ⎡ 0 ⎤ ⎡ 0 ⎤⎫
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢ 1 ⎥ ⎢ 0 ⎥ ⎢ 0 ⎥
⎨⎢ ⎥,⎢ ⎥,⎢ ⎥,⎢ ⎥⎬ .
⎢0⎥ ⎢0⎥ ⎢1⎥ ⎢0⎥
⎪ ⎪
⎪ ⎪
⎩⎣
⎪ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦ ⎣ ⎦⎪⎭
0 0 0 1

2. Give a basis for R2×2 .   Hide answer

There are many possible answers. One possible answer is


1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
{[ ],[ ],[ ],[ ]} .
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

3. What is the dimension of the vector space of polynomials in x


with real coefficients having degree at most three?  
Hide answer

The dimension is 4 since every such polynomial is of the form


ax
3
+ bx
2
+ cx + d where a, b, c, d ∈ R . and has for
example, {x3 , x2 , x, 1} as a basis.

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