[Math] Is every open interval a union of half open intervals

general-topology

I am reading lower limit topology on Wikipedia, which states that the lower limit topology

[…] is the topology generated by the basis of all half-open intervals $[a,b)$, where a and b are real numbers. […] The lower limit topology is finer (has more open sets) than the standard topology on the real numbers (which is generated by the open intervals). The reason is that every open interval can be written as a (countably infinite) union of half-open intervals.

I cannot see how to write $(a,b)$ as a countably infinite union of half-open intervals.

Best Answer

If $M = (a,b)\cap \mathbb{Q}$ then $$(a,b) = \bigcup _{c\in M} [c,b)$$