Let $V$ be a vector space spanned by $\{v_1,v_2\}$.
Claim: Any set consisting of three vectors in $V$ is linearly dependent.
Proof: Let $w_1,w_2,w_3 \in V$.
Call the set consisting $\{w_1,w_2,w_3\}$ be $A$.
So, we're trying to show that $A$ is linearly dependent.
By definition of linear dependence, we want to show that there exists $c_i \neq 0$ such that $c_1w_1+c_2w_2+c_3w_3=0$, where $c_i \in \mathbb{R}$.
We can equivalently write the equation above as follows since $\{v_1,v_2\}$ spans $V$.
$c_1(a_{11}v_1+a_{12}v_2)+c_2(a_{21}v_1+a_{22}v_2)+c_3(a_{31}v_1+a_{32}v_2)=0$ where $a_{ij} \in \mathbb{R}$.
$\iff v_1(c_1a_{11}+c_2a_{21}+c_3a_{31})+v_2(c_1a_{12}+c_2a_{22}+c_3a_{32})=0$
Stuck here
If I knew that $\{v_1,v_2\}$ is linearly independent then I can proceed the proof perfectly fine and it will all work out. However, I am not given this information thus, I am stuck as to how I can proceed from what I have.
Any suggestion/tip would be appreciated! Thank you in advance.
Edit #1: It seemed unclear from the answers that I'm getting in what I'm trying to ask. Sorry about that. My question would be do I need the information that $\{v_1,v_2\}$ is linearly independent? None of the comments/answer seems to help me guide in what my question is…
Best Answer
Let consider the two cases
For $v_1$ and $v_2$ not linearly independent we have
and thus
For $v_1$ and $v_2$ linearly independent, suppose wlog that $w_1$ and $w_2$ are linearly independent then from that
$w_1=a_1v_1+a_2v_2$
$w_2=b_1v_1+b_2v_2$
we obtain for $\begin{bmatrix}c_1&d_1\\c_2&d_2\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}a_1&b_1\\a_2&b_2\end{bmatrix}^{-1}$
$v_1=c_1w_1+c_2w_2$
$v_2=d_1w_1+d_2w_2$
and thus