Consider the assertion:


Every connected, but not necessarily paracompact, n-manifold is of cardinality 
$2^{\aleph\_0}$ (at least assuming the axiom of choice). 


For n=1 this may be proved via enumeration of the short list of examples. The essential point is that while there is a Long Line, there is no Extra Long Line.


What is the situation for n>1?



Cardinality of connected manifolds
A connected Hausdorff manifold with more than one point has cardinality $2^{\aleph\_0}$.


Here's a proof sketch.


For each point $x$ of the manifold, let $U\_x$ be an open Euclidean neighbourhood of $x$. Define a transfinite sequence of subsets $V\_\alpha$ of the manifold as follows. Choose some point $y$ of the manifold, and put $V\_0=U\_y$. For each ordinal $\alpha$, let $V\_{\alpha+1}$ be the union of $U\_x$ over all $x$ such that $x$ is a limit of a sequence in $V\_\alpha$. Take unions at limit ordinals.


Each $V\_\alpha$ is open, and $V\_{\omega\_1}$ is clearly sequentially closed, and therefore closed (as manifolds are first countable), and is therefore the whole space (by connectedness). As we are assuming that the manifold is Hausdorff, sequential limits are unique, so it follows easily by transfinite induction that $V\_{\omega\_1}$ has cardinality $2^{\aleph\_0}$.


