Show that there exists a proper non-empty subset of the set of real numbers such that, for every real number , the set is finite, where .
Solution
Let be a Hamel basis; that is, is a set of real numbers such that every real number can uniquely be written in the form
where the are all rational and vanish for all but a finite number (depending on ) of 's. The existence of Hamel bases can be proved via Zorn's lemma or Zermelo's well ordering theorem or any other statement equivalent to the axiom of choice.
We are now going to prove that the set of those real numbers whose in are all integral satisfies the required condition.
To this end, fix a real number . Since the conclusion is clear if , let be different from and let be the least common multiple of the denominators of the non-vanishing in . Finally, notice that is a member of , to conclude that any set of the form , where is a non-negative integer, must be one of the sets , .