Uncountability of Real Numbers
Abstract: In this article, it will be shown that the set of Real numbers is uncountable in four different ways. The
first one uses the least upper bound property of the set of real numbers ℝ (sometimes called the completeness
property of ℝ), the second one uses the nested intervals property of ℝ, the third one uses Cantor’s diagonal
argument and the fourth one by proving that a non- empty perfect subset ofℝ is uncountable.
Keywords:Uncountable set, monotone sequences, bounded above, bounded below, perfect set ,neighbourhood
of a point, limit point of a set.
In this article the Uncountabilityof ℝ, the set of real numbers is shown in four different ways and each
time one can observe that the completeness property of ℝ is very much needed to prove that ℝ is uncountable.
In the first proof the completeness property of ℝ sometimes called the least upper bound property of ℝ plays a
crucial role in order to show that ℝ is uncountable. Similarly the second proof uses the nested intervals property
of ℝwhich is just another version of the completeness property of ℝ and the third one uses the so- called
Cantor’s diagonal argument.Here it is pointed out that in this proof the fact that for each