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Let $V$ be an arbitrary vector space of finite dimension $n$ over the field $K$. It is known that in that case $ V\simeq K^{n}. $

The canonical isomorphism which achieves this is \begin{eqnarray*} & \phi:K^{n}\rightarrow V\\ & \left(x_{1},\ldots,x_{n}\right)\mapsto x_{1}\vec{v}_{1}+\ldots+x_{n}\vec{v}_{n}, \end{eqnarray*} where $\left(\vec{v}_{1},\ldots,\vec{v}_{n}\right)$ is a fixed basis of $V$.

Of course this isn't the only isomorphism - different basis give different isomorphisms. But may there also be others ? In other words: Given an arbitrary isomorphism $\varphi:K^{n}\rightarrow V$ is there always a basis $\left(\vec{u}_{1},\ldots,\vec{u}_{n}\right)$, such that in this basis $\varphi$ looks like above, i.e. $ \varphi\left(x_{1},\ldots,x_{n}\right)=x_{1}\vec{u}_{1}+\ldots+x_{n}\vec{u}_{n}\ ? $

If not, could you give an example ?

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    "base-less" is a good approximation of the meaning in linear algebra; and in other areas it does mean something different. E.g., in the context of category theory, morphisms induced by universal properties are often called "canonical". E.g., the "canonical morphism into the quotient" in group theory. The isomorphisms between arbitrary $n$-dimensional $K$-vector spaces and $K^n$ are not canonical in either meaning.2012-05-21

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Yes, there is always such a basis - specifically, given an isomorphism $\phi:K^n\to V$, then letting $\vec{u}_i=\phi(0,\ldots,\underbrace{1}_{i\text{th place}},\ldots,0)$ we have that $\phi(x_1,\ldots,x_n)=x_1\phi(1,0,\ldots,0)+\cdots+x_n\phi(0,\ldots,0,1)=x_1\vec{u}_1+\cdots+x_n\vec{u}_n.$ The set $\{\vec{u}_1,\ldots,\vec{u}_n\}$ is a basis because $x_1\vec{u}_1+\cdots+x_n\vec{u}_n=\phi(x_1,\ldots,x_n)=0\in V$ if and only if $(x_1,\ldots,x_n)=(0,\ldots,0)\in K^n$, because $\phi$ is an isomorphism.

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Yes. Let $e_1, \dots, e_n$ denote the standard basis on $K^n$, i.e. $e_1 = (1,0,0,\dots,0), e_2 = (0,1,0,\dots,0), \dots, e_n = (0,0,0,\dots,1).$ Given an isomorphism $\phi : K^n \rightarrow V$, let $v_i = \phi(e_i)$. Then $v_1, \dots, v_n$ is a basis on $V$ (why?) and $\phi(x_1,\dots,x_n) = x_1 \phi(e_1) + \cdots + x_n \phi(e_n) = x_1 v_1 + \cdots + x_n v_n.$