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It is shown that the maximum size of a set $S$ of vectors of a $k$-dimensional vector space over ${𝔽}_q$, with the property that every subset of size $k$ is a basis, is at most $q+1$, if $k\le p$, and at most $q+k-p$, if $q\ge k\ge p+1\ge 4$, where $q=p^k$ and $p$ is prime. Moreover, for $k\le p$, the sets $S$ of maximum size are classified, generalising Beniamino Segre’s “arc is a conic” theorem. These results have various implications. One such implication is that a $k\times (p+2)$ matrix, with $k\le p$ and entries from ${𝔽}_p$, has $k$ columns which are linearly dependent. Another is...