[Math] Infinite dimensional normed Banach space cannot have countable basis

baire-categorybanach-spacesproof-explanationreal-analysis

It is said here that since an infinite-dimensional Banach space $M$ is meagre (it is contained in the countable union of nowhere dense closed subsets of itself), we reach a contradiction. However, I did not exactly understand what the contradiction is. Is it that the interior of a Banach space is necessarily non-empty, since it is open?

Just want to make sure I get it right.

Best Answer

Every finite dimensional subspace is closed (why?). Every proper subspace has empty interior (why?). So in an infinite dimensional space every finite dimensional subspace is nowhere dense. A countable dimensional subspace is a union of countably many finite dimensional subspaces (take span of the first $k$ basis vectors for each $k$—a nested union). So every countably-infinite dimensional subspace is first category. But the whole Banach space is second category by Baire’s theorem.