The vector u is unique. Let u1 and u2 be such that ϕ(v)=⟨v,u1⟩ and ϕ(v)=⟨v,u2⟩ for every v∈V. Then ⟨v,u1−u2⟩=⟨v,u1⟩−⟨v,u2⟩=ϕ(v)−ϕ(v)=0 for every v∈V . Substituting u1−u2 for v , we get ⟨u1−u2,u1−u2⟩=0 , hence u1−u2=0 .
The vector u exists. Since V is finite-dimensional, the Gram-Schmidt procedure gives an orthonormal basis {ei}i of V. Choose u=∑iϕ(ei)ei .
Let v∈V. Since {ei}i is a basis, there are scalars {ai}i such that v=∑iaiei . Hence
ϕ(v)=ϕ(i∑aiei)=i∑aiϕ(ei).On the other hand,
⟨v,u⟩=⟨i∑aiei,i∑ϕ(ei)ei⟩=i∑j∑aiϕ(ej)⟨ei,ej⟩=i∑aiϕ(ei)where the last equality follows from the orthonormality of {ei}i . Therefore, ϕ(v)=⟨v,u⟩ for every v∈V.
The expression a denotes the complex conjugate of a complex scalar a and is used for complex vector spaces. For real vector spaces, the proof is the same as above except that complex conjugation should be eliminated.