Proof verification: if $W_1 \subseteq W_2$ then $\dim(W_1) \le \dim(W_2)$

linear algebraproof-verificationvector-spaces

Let $W_1$ and $W_2$ be subspaces of vector space $V$. Prove that
If $W_1 \subseteq W_2$ then $\dim(W_1) \le \dim(W_2)$.

My proof:
Let $v_1, …,v_n$ be base vectors of vector space $W_1$ and $W_1 \subseteq W_2$. Then $\dim(W_1) = n$.
From the assumptions we have that $v_1, …, v_n \in W_2$ and because they are base vectors in $W_1$ they are lineary independent. Therefore
if $\operatorname{span}(v_1, …,v_n) = W_2$ then $\dim(W_2) = n = \dim(W_1)$. Otherwise there exists vector $v_{n+1} \in W_2$ such that $v_{n+1}$ is not linear combination of $v_1, …,v_2$ and therefore $\dim(W_2) \ge n+1$. Hence $\dim(W_1) \le \dim(W_2)$.

Best Answer

Well, this is a consequence of the famous Steinitz exchange lemma:

If $\{v_{1},\dots ,v_{m}\}$ is a set of $m$ linearly independent vectors in a vector space V, and $\{w_{1},\dots ,w_{n}\}$ spans $V$, then $m\leq n$ and after reordering $\{v_{1},\dots ,v_{m},w_{m+1},\dots ,w_{n}\}$ spans $V$.

Here you take $\{v_{1},\dots ,v_{m}\}$ as a basis of $W_1$ and $\{w_{1},\dots ,w_{n}\}$ as a basis of $W_2$, where $W_1$ is a subspace of $W_2$.

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