Why is a span the smallest subspace containing its list, and what makes P(F) infinite-dimensional?
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Linear combinations and
Write both definitions with the set-builder formula for the span, record that , and check that is in while is not.
The span is the smallest subspace containing the list
Prove it in full: show the span contains and is closed under addition and scalar multiplication, show it contains each , then show every subspace containing all contains the span.
Finite-dimensional spaces and the spanning list of
State the definitions of spanning and of finite-dimensional, then write as a linear combination of the standard list to conclude that is finite-dimensional.
versus
Record the definitions of degree (with ) and , then write out the argument that escapes any list's span, so is infinite-dimensional.