Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2013 / ib / Paper 2 / 10E (Linear Algebra)

A set is linearly dependent if some finite selection of distinct vectors admits a relation ${\sum }_j{c}_j{v}_j=0$ with coefficients not all zero. For a finite set this is just such a nontrivial relation using its vectors.

Prove dependence of $n+1$ vectors in ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ by induction, starting with the zero-dimensional case. If all first coordinates vanish, select $n$ of the vectors and apply induction in ${\mathbb{R}}^{n-1}$. Otherwise relabel so the last vector has first coordinate $a\ne 0$. For $1\le j\le n$, put $w_j=v_j-(v_{j,1}/a)v_{n+1}$. These $n$ vectors have zero first coordinate, so induction supplies ${\sum }_{j=1}^n{c}_j{w}_j=0$, with some $c_j\ne 0$. Expanding gives a nontrivial linear dependence among the original vectors. The same proof works over any field.

Now express vectors of $V$ in coordinates relative to its given $n$-element basis. Any other basis has at most $n$ elements: more would contain $n+1$ linearly dependent vectors. If it has $m<n$ elements, expressing the original basis in its coordinates makes the original $n$ vectors linearly dependent, a contradiction. Thus every basis has exactly $n$ elements.

Finally, the functions $\sin (jx)$, $j=1,2,\dots$, are bounded and continuous. Any finite relation among them can be multiplied by $\sin (rx)$ and integrated over $[0,2\pi ]$. The orthogonality identityforces every coefficient to vanish. Arbitrarily large linearly independent finite sets exist, so the vector space of bounded continuous functions is infinite-dimensional.