[Math] Show that any uncountable set $A$ of $\mathbb{R}$ can be divided into two uncountably infinite disjoint subsets

set-theory

How would one prove using the Axiom of Choice that any uncountable set $A$ of $\mathbb{R}$ can be divided into two uncountably infinite disjoint subsets? I haven't seen this kind of proof exactly, because I'm not looking for a partition.

Formally, let $D$ be the set with the following property: $x$ is a member of $D$ just in case the set of all elements of $A$ strictly greater than $x$ is uncountable and the set of all elements of $A$ strictly less than $x$ is uncountable. How would one show that $D$ is nonempty, preferably without directly resorting to cardinal arithmetic?

Update: I appreciate all the feedback, including a solution. Although a nice proof has been given, I'm interested in seeing how it can be done by using the rationals in particular to split the set.

Best Answer

For every rational $q$ let $A_q^+=\{x\in A\mid x\geq q\}$ and $A_q^-=\{x\in A\mid x<q\}$. If for some $q$ both are uncountable, super. If not, what can you say about $A$ itself?

Now, you might wonder as to the use of the axiom of choice here, and it hides beneath the surface: in order to prove that every countable union of countable sets is countable, we have to use the axiom of choice.


Edit: Let $r=\sup\{q\mid A^-_q\text{ is countable}\}$ and $s=\inf\{q\mid A^+_q\text{ is countable}\}$.

  1. If either $r$ or $s$ is not a real number (i.e., $\pm\infty$) then we get that $A$ is countable.

  2. If $r>s$, take a rational $q$ witnessing that, then $A^-_q$ and $A^+_q$ are both countable, what do we get?

  3. If $r<s$, take a rational $q$ witnessing that, then $A^-_q$ and $A^+_q$ are both uncountable.

  4. Finally, if $r=s=q$, take an increasing sequence of rationals $r_n$ and a decreasing sequence of rationals $s_n$, both converging to $q$. Then $A\cap\bigcup_{p<q}A_p^+=A\cap\bigcup_{n\in\Bbb N}A^+_{r_n}$ is countable; and $A\cap\bigcup_{p>r} A^-_p$ is countable. Again, we get that $A$ is countable.

So if $A$ is uncountable, there is a rational $q$ such that $r<q<s$ and $A_q^-$ and $A^+_q$ are both uncountable.

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