Infinite-rank failure of the first-cohomology generator formula

ID: infinite-rank-failure-of-the-first-cohomology-generator-formula

Let be the set of infinite binary sequences and with its product topology. Index the finite binary strings by the positive integers. For each , take the element whose coordinate is one exactly when the th string is a prefix of . These countably many elements generate a dense subgroup: given finitely many distinct sequences, sufficiently long prefixes distinguish them individually. No finite family generates , so its topological generator number is countable. Every continuous linear functional depends on finitely many coordinates, however, so has a basis of size . Thus the arbitrary-rank identity is false for unrestricted topological generating sets.

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