Functional countability in GO spaces (Q2676970)

A space, \(X\), is functionally countable if the range of every continuous function \(f:X\to\mathbb{R}\) is countable. Compact scattered spaces are functionally countable and a normal functionally countable space has countable extent (all closed discrete subspaces are countable). The authors use these facts as a starting point in their investigation of functional countability of GO-spaces. For scattered GO-spaces countable extent characterizes functional countability. But for general GO-spaces a characterization is still lacking. The authors do establish that in functionally countable GO-spaces countable sets have countable closures. Also the underlying linearly ordered space is functionally countable if the GO-space is, but the converse is false, even for crowded GO-spaces. The paper closes with a list of questions.