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In mathematics, if V is a vector space and S is a subset of V, then
S spans V if every vector in V can be written as a linear combination of (finitely many) elements from S. S is then called a spanning set or
generating set of V.
Given any subset S of a vector space V, regardless of whether S is a spanning set of
V, we can define the span of S to be the set of all linear combinations of elements of
S. Then S spans V if and only if
V is the span of S; in general, however, the span of S will only be a subspace of V.
A spanning set that is also linearly independent is a
basis. In other words, S is a
basis of V if and only if every vector in V can be written as a linear combination of elements of
S in exactly one way.
Examples
The real vector space R3 has {(1,0,0), (0,1,0), (0,0,1)}
as a spanning set. This spanning set is actually a basis. Another spanning set for the same space is given by {(1,2,3), (0,1,2),
(−1,1/2,3), (1,1,1)}, but this set is not a basis, because it is linearly dependent. The set {(1,0,0), (0,1,0), (1,1,0)} is
not even a spanning set of R3; instead its span is the space of all vectors in R3 whose last
component is zero.
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