NMSU • BLAST-2009
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, ...
F.E.J. Linton • Wesleyan Univ. Math/CS Emeritus
Distinct reals
x
,
y
in
X
ε
λ
must lie at least 2ε apart:
|
x
-
y
|
>
2ε.
For if instead
0 < |
x
–
y
| < 2ε ,
then
V
ε
(
x
) ∩
V
ε
(
y
) = {(½(
x
+
y
), ½|
x
-
y
|)} ≠ ∅.
while
∅ ≠
f
(
V
ε
(
x
) ∩
V
ε
(
y
)) ⊂
f
(
V
ε
(
x
)) ∩
f
(
V
ε
(
y
))
=
V
ε
λ
(
x
) ∩
V
ε
λ
(
y
) = ∅,
a contradiction.
With each
X
ε
λ
thus at most countable, so is
X
=
∪
{
X
ε
0
: ε > 0} ∪
∪
{
X
ε
1
: ε > 0} =
∪
{
X
1/
n
0
:
n
> 0} ∪
∪
{
X
1/
n
1
:
n
> 0} .