1. ## Linear independence

Let u,v be distinct vectors in a vector space V. Show that {u,v} is linearly
dependent if and only if u or v is a multiple of the other.

2. Originally Posted by JCIR
Let u,v be distinct vectors in a vector space V. Show that {u,v} is linearly
dependent if and only if u or v is a multiple of the other.
So we have a statement

$p \iff q$

where p is if u,v are linearly dependent and q is if u or v is a multiple of the other

Since we are proving and if and only if statement we need to prove both directions. So lets start with

$p \implies q$

We assume that u and v are linearly dependant. So by definition there exits scalers $c_1,c_2 \in \mathbb{R}$ such that $c_1,c_2 \ne 0$ and $c_1u+c_2v=0$ Now if we solve this equation for u we get $u=-\frac{c_2}{c_1}v$. Therefore u and v are multiples of each other. Done.

Now for the other direction

$q \implies p$

We assume that there are mulitples of each other so we get

$v=ku$ where $k \ne 0$Now we subract v from both sides to get

$0=ku-1\cdot v$ Now we have to non zero scalers and a linear combination that is equal to zero. So the vectors are dependant.

QED.

I hope this helps.

3. Yes it helps greatly.