Set Theory – A Well-Order on an Uncountable Set

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I can't find an example of a well-order on an uncountable set. Is possible to prove that exists with the Axiom of Choice? How can I give a pratical construction?

I try to define a well-order on Cantor Set, but I'm not able to do.

Best Answer

You can, without AC, prove that the first uncountable well-order exists. Without going too much into every detail, it may be done like this:

Using the normal $<$ ordering of $\Bbb Q$, we get that some elements of $\mathcal P(\Bbb Q)$ are well-ordered, and, more importantly, every countable well-order appears as such a set. For any countable ordinal $\alpha$, let $X_\alpha \subseteq \mathcal P(\Bbb Q)$ be the set of all subsets of $\Bbb Q$ that are order isomorphic to $\alpha$. Also note that we can impose an order of those sets in a very natural way: $X_\alpha < X_\beta$ iff $\alpha < \beta$. Then $$ \{X_\alpha \mid \alpha \text{ is a countable ordinal}\} \subseteq \mathcal P(\mathcal P(\Bbb Q)) $$ is actually well-ordered, and order isomorphic to the first uncountable ordinal.