Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/ib/paper-2/13g/c/solution

For every , the nonempty order interval
is open in the lexicographic order topology on the real plane. The sets are pairwise disjoint.
Suppose were a countable basis of a topology. For each , the basis of a topology property gives a member containing and contained in . Let be the least index of such a member. The same nonempty cannot lie in two disjoint , so is an injection from the uncountable set into , a contradiction. This topology is not second countable.

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