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Prove that if $e_1, \dots e_n$ is an orthonormal basis of $ V$ and $v_1, \dots , v_n$ are vectors in $ V$ such that $$\|e_j - v_j\| < \frac{1}{\sqrt{n}}$$ for each j, then $v_1, \dots v_n$ is a basis of $V$.

I have fiddled around with this for a while now unfortunately nothing came close, so I'll just say I have no idea how to do this. Help :(?

Martin Argerami
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Soaps
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  • Since $(e_j){j=1}^n$ is an orthonormal basis for $V$, it follows that $\dim V=n$. Showing that $(v_j){j=1}^n$ is a (Hamel) basis for $V$ thus reduces to showing that $(v_j){j=1}^n$ is linearly independent. To do this, I would suggest using the inequality above to prove that $\sum{j=1}^n \alpha_j v_j=0$ implies that $\alpha_1=\ldots=\alpha_n=0$. – triple_sec Jul 30 '14 at 23:32

2 Answers2

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Although not explicitly said in the question, we are assuming that $V$ is an inner product space.

Suppose that $v_1,\ldots,v_n$ is linearly dependent. Then there exist constant, not all zero, $c_1,\ldots, c_n$ with $c_1v_1+\cdots+c_nv_n=0$. Then \begin{align} \|c_1e_1+\cdots+c_ne_n\|&=\|c_1(e_1-v_1)+\cdots+c_n(e_n-v_n)\|\\ \ \\ &\leq\sum_{j=1}^n|c_j|\,\|e_j-v_j\|\leq\sum_{j=1}^n\frac{|c_j|}{\sqrt n}. \end{align} We also know that $$ \|c_1e_1+\cdots+c_ne_n\|^2=\sum_{j=1}^n|c_j|^2, $$ So we have shown that $$ \left(\sum_{j=1}^n|c_j|^2\right)^{1/2}\leq\sum_{j=1}^n\frac{|c_j|}{\sqrt n}. $$ This is the reverse of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, so we conclude that $$ \left(\sum_{j=1}^n|c_j|^2\right)^{1/2}=\sum_{j=1}^n\frac{|c_j|}{\sqrt n}, $$ and equality in Cauchy-Schwarz implies that there is a constant $d$ such that $|c_j|=d/\sqrt n$ for all $j$. So $c_j=\lambda_j\,d/\sqrt n$ with $|\lambda_j|=1$, and $$ 0=c_1v_1+\cdots+c_nv_n=\frac d{\sqrt n}\,(\lambda_1v_1+\cdots+\lambda_n v_n), $$ implying that $\lambda_1v_1+\cdots+\lambda_n v_n=0$ (this works because $d\ne0$, which follows from the fact that the $c_j$ cannot all be zero). Then \begin{align} \sqrt n&=\|\lambda_1e_1+\cdots+\lambda_n e_n\|=\|\lambda_1(e_1-v_1)+\cdots+\lambda_n(e_n-v_n)\|\\ \ \\ &\leq\sum_{j=1}^n\|e_j-v_j\|<\sum_{j=1}^n\frac1{\sqrt n}=\sqrt n, \end{align} a contradiction. This shows that it is impossible that $v_1,\dots,v_n$ are linearly dependent.

Martin Argerami
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WLOG suppose $V=\mathbb C^n$ with standard inner product and $(e_1,\ldots,e_n)$ is the standard basis. Let $A$ be the $n$-by-$n$ matrix with columns $v_1,\ldots,v_n$. Then the Frobenius norm of $I-A$ is the square root of $\sum\limits_{k=1}^n\|e_k-v_k\|^2<1$. Consequently, $A$ is invertible (with inverse $\sum\limits_{k=0}^\infty (I-A)^k$), and therefore it has linearly independent columns.

Jonas Meyer
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  • A late (+1) for a solution as elegant as straight! There are close to infinitely many answers on this site as the above exercise (it's asked in S. Axler's book "LA done right") has been posted at least 8-times. – Hanno Jan 26 '19 at 08:34