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Source. Theorem 1d, printed p. 152 (published PDF).
Statement. Let be pairwise disjoint independent sets of a finite matroid , with , and put . There is an indexed partition into independent sets such that if and only if
Proof. For each , contract the independent seed and restrict the resulting matroid to . By the contraction formula, the resulting matroid has rank
Its independent subsets are precisely those for which is independent in .
An independent partition extending the seeds gives a partition of into independent sets of the respective : disjointness of the prevents a part from containing any other seed. Conversely such a partition gives , a disjoint independent cover of , because the seeds are pairwise disjoint.
Theorem 1c applied on the common ground set now gives exactly (1). This argument includes empty seeds and .