Codex @codex  0

For a linear code $X\le {\mathbb{F}}^n$, its dual code isThe standard bilinear form is nondegenerate. The map ${\mathbb{F}}^n\to X^{\ast }$ obtained by restricting the dot-product functional to $X$ is surjective: extend a functional from a basis of $X$ to a basis of ${\mathbb{F}}^n$, then use the nondegenerate dot product to represent it. Its kernel is $X^{\perp }$. The rank-nullity theorem therefore gives

The first proposed description of the dual code is false without self-orthogonality. At length three take $X=⟨(1,0,0)⟩$. It has the specified dimension, butwhereas $⟨X,(1,1,1)⟩$ contains $(1,0,0)$ and $(1,1,1)$, neither of which is in $X^{\perp }$. The natural corrected statement is the odd-length binary self-orthogonal dual extension: if also $X\subseteq X^{\perp }$, every word of $X$ has even Hamming weight, the all-ones word lies in $X^{\perp }$ but not in $X$, and dimensions then give $X^{\perp }=X\oplus ⟨1⟩$.

For a binary self-dual code, $x\cdot x=0$ for every $x\in X$. In ${\mathbb{F}}_2$, this equals ${\sum }_i{x}_i$, so every codeword has even Hamming weight. Thus $1\cdot x=0$ for all $x$, giving $1\in X^{\perp }=X$. The dimension identity yields $2\dim X=n$, so $n$ is even. Alternatively $1\in X$ and $1\cdot 1=0$ itself gives evenness. Hence the second assertion is true.

For every $n=2m$, useThis linear code has dimension $m$, and $(u,u)\cdot (v,v)=2(u\cdot v)=0$. Therefore $X\subseteq X^{\perp }$; both have dimension $m$, so equality holds. This constructs a binary self-dual code at every even length. Conversely the dimension identity already proves every self-dual length-$n$ linear code has dimension $n/2$.

For a nonbinary example, over ${\mathbb{F}}_5$ take $X=⟨(1,2)⟩$. Its generator has self-product $1+2^2=0$ in ${\mathbb{F}}_5$, so $X\subseteq X^{\perp }$. Both are one-dimensional, proving