TITLE: $C(X)$ with the pointwise convergence topology is not metrizable
QUESTION [11 upvotes]: I need to show that if $X$ is an uncountable Tychonoff space, then $C(X)$ is not metrizable. All I've been able to show so far is that that $F(X)$, the space of all functions with pointwise topology, is homeomorphic to $\mathbb{R}^X$ (the product) which is not metrizable, but I can't seem to get much further. Thanks.

REPLY [8 votes]: Hint: If the pointwise convergence topology was metrizable, it would be first countable, so $0$ would have a countable neighbourhood base.  Thus there would be a sequence of open neighbourhoods $U_i$ of $0$ such that every neighbourhood of $0$ contains some $U_i$.
By definition of the topology of pointwise convergence, for each $i$ there exist some finite set $J_i$ and some $\epsilon_i > 0$ such that $f \in U_i$ if $|f(x)| < \epsilon_i$ for all $x \in J_i$.  Now define another neighbourhood $U$ of $0$, and use the fact that $X$ is completely regular to show that for any $i$ there is some $f \in C(X)$ such that $f \in U_i$ but $f \notin U$.