Linear independence depends on the scalar field (${\dim }_{\mathbb{R}}\mathbb{C}=2,{\dim }_{\mathbb{C}}\mathbb{C}=1$)

Consider the vectors $1,i$ in the complex numbers, where $i$ is the imaginary unit. With scalar field $\mathbb{R}$, a linear relation $a\cdot 1+b\cdot i=0$ has $a,b\in \mathbb{R}$. Taking its real part and imaginary part gives $a=b=0$, so the pair is linearly independent. Every complex number $x+iy$ also has coefficients $(x,y)$ in the real numbers, so $1,i$ form a basis and the dimension of a vector space is two.

With scalar field $\mathbb{C}$, the same pair is linearly dependent, sinceuses the nonzero coefficients $(i,-1)$ from the complex numbers. The single vector $1$ is now a basis, because $z=z\cdot 1$ for every complex number $z$, giving dimension of a vector space one. For example $3+i=3\cdot 1+1\cdot i=(3+i)\cdot 1+0\cdot i$: the second representation uses a coefficient unavailable over the real numbers. Specifying the field is part of the definition of linear independence.