Lecture: Basis and Dimension

By
Dr. Mai Duc Thanh
A basis for a vector space V is a set S of
vectors of V such that
a) S is linearly independent
b) S spans V

The plural of basis is bases

Definition



Proof. First, we have to show that S is linearly
independent.

Example 1
1 2
1 2
In , let (1, 0,..., 0), (0,1, 0,...., 0),... (0, 0,...0,1)
The set { , ,..., } forms a basis in , called
standard basis for
n
n
n
n
n
R e e e
S e e e R
R
= = =
=
1 1 2 2
1 2
1 2 1 2
... 0
(1, 0,...0) (0,1, 0,..., 0) ... (0, 0,..., 0,1) 0
( , ,..., ) 0 (0, 0,..0) 0, 0,... 0
n n
n
n n
a e a e a e
a a a
a a a a a a
+ + + =
+ + + =
= = = = =
Next, we have to show that S spans R
n
.
This means that any vector in R
n
can be
expressed as a linear combination of vectors
in S
In fact, for any x in R
n





Thus, S spans R
n


Example 1
1 2
1 1 2 2
( , ,..., ) . Then we can express
x= ...
n
n
n n
x x x x R
x e x e x e
= e
+ + +

Example 2
2
The set {1, , ,..., } is a basis for ,
called the standard basis for
n
n
n
S x x x P
P
=
Let M
23
be the vector space of all 2x3
matrices






Is a basis of M
23
, called the standard basis
for M
23


Example 3
1 2 6
1 2 3
4 5 6
{ , ,..., }, where
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
, ,
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
, ,
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
S M M M
M M M
M M M
=
( ( (
= = =
( ( (

( ( (
= = =
( ( (

From this point, we take the 2
nd
Textbook
for the course:
Kreyzig, Advanced Engineering
Mathematics (Part: Linear Algebra)
New textbook
Let V be a vector space, S a set of vectors
of V, and W the subspace spanned by S. If
S is linearly independent, then S is a basis
for W

Theorem
Theorem 1: Suppose that a vector space
V has a basis S with n vectors. If m>n,
then any set with m vectors is linearly
dependent
Using Theorem 1 one can easily prove:
Theorem 2: If a vector space V has a
basis S with n elements, then any other
basis for V also has n elements
Useful Results
Let V be a vector space
a) The dimension of V is n if V has a basis of
n (n>0, finite) elements
b) The dimension of zero vector space is
zero
c) V is finite dimensional if the dimension of
V is a nonnegative integer
d) V is infinite dimensional if it is not finite
dimensional
Notation: We write dim V for the dimension of
V
Dimension
Theorem: Let V be a finite dimensional vector space and
be a set of vectors of V.
a) If S is linearly independent, then we can extend S to
a basis for V
b) If S spans V and V not zero, then some subset of S is
a basis for V
c) If dim V=n, S has n elements, and S spans V, then S
must also be linearly independent and hence S is a
basis for V
d) If dim V=n, S has n elements, and S is linearly
independent, then S must also span V and hence S
is a basis for V

Finite Dimensional Space
1 2
{ , ,..., }
k
S v v v =
1 2 1
{ , ,..., , ,..., }
k k m
v v v v v
+
Recall: If A is an mxn matrix, then the set of
all solutions of Ax=0, for x in R
n
forms a
subspace of R
n
. This space is called the Null
Space of A, and is denoted by NS(A).
If U is a matrix in row echelon form, then
dim NS(U) is equal to the number of free
variables in the equation Ux = 0
If U is of row echelon form obtained from an
mxn matrix A by elementary row oprations,
then NS(A)=NS(U)
The Null Space NS(A)
(Because ( ) ( )) x NS A x NS U e e
Find a basis of the null space of the matrix



Remark: Elementary row operations on the
augmented matrix (A|0) of the linear system
Ax=0 is the same as the ones on A.
Therefore, we will use row operations to
reduce A to row echelon form instead of
(A|0), for simplicity


Example
1 2 1
2 2 1
1 0 2
A
(
(
=
(
(

Row operations on A:





Example
2 2 1 3 2
1 3
1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1
2 2 1 0 2 3 0 2 3
1 0 2 0 2 3 0 0 0
2 0 2
, choose z=r as a free variable.
2 3 0 2 3
Then, we have
3 / 2, 3 2
R R R R
R R
A
x y z x y z
y z y z
y r x r r r
+
+
( ( (
( ( (
=
( ( (
( ( (

+ + = + =

+ = =

= = + =

Example
Thus, the solution has the form:
( , , ) (2 , 3 / 2, ), for any
(2 , 3 / 2, ) (4, 3, 2)
2
So NS(A)=span(4,-3,2) and we can choose {(4,-3,2)}
as a basis for NS(A) and thus dim( ( )) 1
x y z r r r r R
r
r r r
NS A
= e
=
=
1. Determine whether the given vectors forms a
basis for the given vector spaces



2. Find a basis and dimension of the null space of
the given matrix



CWA
2 4 2 0
2 1 1 1
, 3 1 2 5
4 2 2 1
2 2 4 6
A B
(

(
(
= =
(
(


(

3
2 2 2
2
a) (3, 2,1), (2, 3,1), and (5, 0,1) in
b) ( ) 1 , ( ) 2 , and ( ) 4 for
u v w R
p x x x q x x x r x x P
= = =
= + + = + =
Page 197: 4, 6, 15, 16, 20, 26, 32, 35, 36,
40
Deadline: 18
th
May


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