Every subspace of a vector space has a complement

You're misled by the symbol $V-H$.

If it is $V-H=\{v\in V:v\notin H\}$ then it is not a subspace, because $0$ is not in this set; if it is $V-H=\{v-x:v\in V,x\in H\}$ then it's equal to $V$ so generally not contained in $H$.

The proof is by repeated selection of elements. If $H=V$, we select $K=\{0\}$ and we're done.

Otherwise there is $w_1\in V$, $w_1\notin H$. So, setting $K_1=\operatorname{Span}(w_1)$, we have $K_1\cap H=\{0\}$. If $H+K_1=V$, we're done.

Otherwise there is $w_2\in V$, $w_2\notin H+K_1$. Set $K_2=\operatorname{Span}(w_1,w_2)$ and prove

  • $\{w_1,w_2\}$ is linearly independent
  • $H\cap K_2=\{0\}$

This starts a recursion, so, suppose we have selected $w_1,\dots,w_{r}$ in such a way that

  • $\{w_1,\dots,w_r\}$ is linearly independent
  • $H\cap K_r=\{0\}$, where $K_r=\operatorname{Span}(w_1,\dots,w_r)$

If $H+K_r=V$ we're done, otherwise we can select $w_{r+1}\in V$, $w_{r+1}\notin H+K_r$ and the set $\{w_1,\dots,w_r,w_{r+1}\}$ has the properties above.

The recursion must stop, because a linearly independent set cannot have more than $\dim V$ elements.


If you already know that every linearly independent set can be extended to a basis, it's simpler, of course. Take $\{v_1,\dots,v_h\}$ a basis of $H$ and extend it to $\{v_1,\dots,v_h,v_{h+1},\dots,v_n\}$, a basis of $V$. Then $K=\operatorname{Span}(v_{h+1},\dots,v_n)$ is the subspace you're looking for.

Indeed, any element of $v$ can be written as $$ v=\alpha_1v_1+\dots+\alpha_hv_h+\alpha_{h+1}+\dots+\alpha_nv_n $$ and so $$ v=x+y\in H+K $$ where $$ x=\alpha_1v_1+\dots+\alpha_hv_h\in H\qquad \text{and}\qquad y=\alpha_{h+1}+\dots+\alpha_nv_n\in K $$ If $v\in H\cap K$, then $$ v=\beta_1v_1+\dots+\beta_hv_h=\gamma_{h+1}v_{h+1}+\dots+\gamma_nv_n $$ for some scalars. Now $$ \beta_1v_1+\dots+\beta_hv_h+(-\gamma_{h+1})v_{h+1}+\dots+(-\gamma_n)v_n=0 $$ and so, by the linear independence, $$ \beta_1=\dots=\beta_h=0\\ \gamma_{h+1}=\dots=\gamma_n=0 $$

and $v=0$, which implies $H\cap K = \{0\}$.


If the space $V$ is not finite dimensional, the result is true provided you accept Zorn's lemma. Consider the set $\mathcal{F}$ of all subspaces $L$ of $V$ satisfying $H\cap L=\{0\}$.

The set $\mathcal{F}$ can be ordered by inclusion and it's not empty, because $\{0\}\in\mathcal{F}$. Let $\mathcal{C}$ be a chain in $\mathcal{F}$; then $$ L_0=\bigcup\{L:L\in\mathcal{C}\} $$ is easily seen to be a subspace of $V$ and $$ H\cap L_0=\bigcup\{H\cap L:L\in\mathcal{C}\}=\{0\} $$ so $L_0\in\mathcal{F}$ and is an upper bound for $\mathcal{C}$. By Zorn's lemma we can select a maximal element $K\in\mathcal{F}$. If $H+K\ne V$, there is $w\in V$, $w\notin H+K$. But then $$ H\cap (K+\operatorname{Span}(w))=\{0\} $$ (proof?) and $K\subsetneq K+\operatorname{Span}(w)$, contradicting the maximality of $K$. Thus $H+K=V$ and we're done.


You should consider basis of $H$, say $\beta=\{b_i\}_{i\in I}$, extend it to a basis for $V$, say $\beta'=\{a_j\}_{j\in J}$ and take $K=\text{span}{\{\beta'-\beta\}}$