Countability of Rational Numbers: PWW
The rational numbers are naturally embedded into the set of integer pairs N² = {(n, m): n, m ∈ N}. The diagram below (of the 2004 vintage) makes a convincing argument that the latter can be stringed sequentially one after another, i.e., enumerated, making the set N² countable. Thus the same holds for the set Q of rational numbers.
References
- Des MacHal, Mathematics Magazine v 77, n 1 (Feb 2004)
Countability of Rational Numbers
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