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We use these countability facts: the integers are countable; a finite Cartesian product of countable sets is countable; a countable union of countable sets is countable; and every subset of a countable set is countable. Finite products can be enumerated by listing index tuples in increasing maximum coordinate, and countable unions by diagonal enumeration of pairs of indices.

Fix $d\ge 1$. For each degree bound $D$, there are finitely many monomials $X_1^{{\alpha }_1}\cdots X_d^{{\alpha }_d}$ with ${\alpha }_1+\cdots +{\alpha }_d\le D$. An integer polynomial of total degree at most $D$ is specified by an integer coefficient for each of them, so these polynomials form a finite Cartesian product of copies of $\mathbb{Z}$ and are countable. Every polynomial has some finite degree bound. Taking the union over $D=0,1,2,\dots$ proves the countability of integer polynomial rings:It is infinite because it contains all integer constant polynomials.

For $d=1$, each nonzero polynomial has only finitely many real roots: repeated application of the factor theorem bounds their number by its degree. The real algebraic numbers are the union of these finite root sets over the countably many nonzero integer polynomials. Thus they are countable. If the real transcendental numbers were countable too, their union with the algebraic numbers would make $\mathbb{R}$ countable, contrary to the allowed uncountability assumption. Hence there are uncountably many real transcendental numbers.

To construct an algebraically independent real sequence, choose $x_1$ outside the algebraic numbers. Suppose $x_1,\dots ,x_d$ already satisfy the required nonvanishing condition. For each nonzero $P\in \mathbb{Z}[X_1,\dots ,X_d,T]$, writeAt least one coefficient polynomial $P_j$ is nonzero, and the inductive hypothesis makes its value at $(x_1,\dots ,x_d)$ nonzero. Consequently $P(x_1,\dots ,x_d,T)$ is a nonzero one-variable polynomial and has only finitely many real roots. There are countably many choices of $P$, so the union of all these forbidden roots is countable. Choose $x_{d+1}$ outside it, which is possible because $\mathbb{R}$ is uncountable. This extends the nonvanishing condition to $d+1$. Recursion therefore givesIn particular the chosen numbers are distinct, since a relation $X_i-X_j$ is forbidden. Clearing rational denominators shows that every finite initial segment consists of algebraically independent elements over $\mathbb{Q}$.