Does there exist an equivalence relation on a set such that the set of equivalence classes and all i

Frank Day

Frank Day

Answered question

2022-07-02

Does there exist an equivalence relation on a set such that the set of equivalence classes and all individual equivalence classes are all uncountable?
I have thought about many examples, usually involving equivalence relations on R , and so far none of them fulfill the criteria. I have tried to think about the various definitions of equivalence relation, equivalence classes, countability and so on but I have yet to prove or disprove it for sure. At this point I feel like there exists no such equivalence relation, but I would like to know for sure and how you would go about proving this.

Answer & Explanation

iskakanjulc

iskakanjulc

Beginner2022-07-03Added 18 answers

Step 1
For a general approach to this, note that if we are assuming the axiom of choice, then every infinite set S has the same cardinality as S × S (proving this is a little more complicated, you can find more info here). Thus there exists a bijection f : S S × S, and we can construct an equivalence relation such that x y if and only the first part of f(x) equals the first part of f(y). If S is uncountable, this equivalence relation has the properties you want.
Step 2
A similar result without choice seems possible, but is probably more complex if it exists.

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