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A basis of a vector space $V$ is a family of vectors that is both linearly independent and a spanning set of $V$.

Write the given finite basis as $\mathcal{B}=\{v_1,\dots ,v_n\}$. First, any other basis ${\mathcal{B}}^{\prime }$ must also be finite. Each $v_i$ is a finite linear combination of elements of ${\mathcal{B}}^{\prime }$, so the union $S$ of the finitely many elements of ${\mathcal{B}}^{\prime }$ occurring in these $n$ expressions is finite. Since $S$ spans every $v_i$, it spans $V$. If some $w\in {\mathcal{B}}^{\prime }\setminus S$ existed, then $w$ would lie in the span of $S$, contradicting the linear independence of ${\mathcal{B}}^{\prime }$. Hence ${\mathcal{B}}^{\prime }=S$; write $|{\mathcal{B}}^{\prime }|=m$.

It remains to prove the elementary Steinitz exchange lemma directly. If independent vectors $w_1,\dots ,w_r$ lie in the span of $v_1,\dots ,v_n$, express $w_1$ in terms of the $v_i$. Some coefficient is nonzero, so the corresponding $v_i$ can be solved for in terms of $w_1$ and the other $v_i$; replacing it by $w_1$ preserves the span. Inductively, after replacing $k$ of the $v_i$ by $w_1,\dots ,w_k$, the expression for $w_{k+1}$ must have a nonzero coefficient on one of the unreplaced $v_i$, since otherwise $w_{k+1}$ would be a linear combination of $w_1,\dots ,w_k$. That $v_i$ can again be replaced. There are only $n$ original vectors to replace, so $r\le n$.

Apply this argument first to the independent family ${\mathcal{B}}^{\prime }$ and the spanning family $\mathcal{B}$ to obtain $m\le n$, and then with the two bases interchanged to obtain $n\le m$. Therefore