the set $F = \lbrace a:x^4 + ax -5 = 0\text{ has a rational root}\rbrace$, is $F$ countable or uncountable?
I have two expression with very different meanings,
First one, $a=\frac{5}{x}-x^3,x \in \mathbb{Q}\setminus \lbrace 0\rbrace \Rightarrow F\subseteq \mathbb{Q}$, $\therefore$ it is countable.
second one,
suppose $r_1,r_2,r_3,r_4$ are the roots of the equation, at least one of it is rational so call $r_1$ is rational. \begin{align*} x^4+ax-5=0 \Leftrightarrow (x-r_1)(x-r_2)(x-r_3)(x-r_4) &= 0\\x^4-(r_1+r_2+r_3+r_4)x^3 +(r_1r_2+r_1r_3+...)x^2\\-(r_1r_2r_3+r_1r_2r_4+r_2r_3r_4)x+r_1r_2r_3r_4&=0\\\therefore a&=-(r_1r_2r_3+r_1r_2r_4+r_2r_3r_4)\\ ,-5&=r_1r_2r_3r_4\\ r_2r_3r_4=\frac{-5}{r_1}&\Rightarrow r_2r_3r_4\quad rational\\ -(r_1r_2r_3+r_1r_2r_4+r_2r_3r_4)&=-[r_1(r_2r_3+r_2r_4)+r_2r_3r_4]\\(r_2r_3+r_2r_4)\in \mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q}&\Rightarrow r_1(r_2r_3+r_2r_4)\in \mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q}\\&\Rightarrow r_1(r_2r_3+r_2r_4)+r_2r_3r_4\in \mathbb{R}\setminus\mathbb{Q} \end{align*} $\therefore$it is a set collecting irrational number so it is uncountable. Which one is correct? Thank you.
So otherwise, I can get a subset $S_{r_1}$ to collect rational a and $S_{r_2}$ to say it is uncountable then the Union is also uncountable?