An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A set of objects x₁, x₂, …, x_n (→ vectors, → matrices, → polynomials, etc.) on a given set if there is a linear combination of them:

a₁x₁ + a₂x₂ + … + a_nx_n,

which is zero, but at least one of the coefficients is non-zero. For example the binomials (2x + y) and (6x + 3y) are linearly dependent, since 3(2x + y) - (6x + 3y) = 0.

See also: → linearly; → dependent.