TITLE: More than continuum many functions
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: Suppose we have a function $f_\alpha:\mathbb{N} \to o$ for each $\alpha<c^+$ (successor cardinal of $c=2^{\aleph_{0}}$), where $o$ is some ordinal. Show that there exists a set $S \subseteq c^+$ such that $|S|=c^+ $ and for every $\alpha,\beta \in S$ where $\alpha<\beta$ we have that $f_\alpha(n)\leq f_\beta(n)$ for all $n \in \mathbb{N}$.
I was thinking maybe to color pairs $\alpha,\beta \in o$ in colors depending on the smallest index $n$ for which $f_\alpha(n)\leq f_\beta(n)$ doesn't hold (i.e countable number of colors), and maybe use some coloring theorem? The problem is I can't see an appropriate coloring theorem for the result I want, and also I don't see a contradiction in there being a homogeneous set not of color $-1$ (i.e no such index). 
My second approach would be assuming the negation and somehow building an infinite decreasing sequence in $o$,  $f_{\alpha_1}(n)>f_{\alpha_2}(n)>f_{\alpha_3}(n)...$ which would contradict well-orderedness, but I can't really see how to do that either.

REPLY [3 votes]: Here’s a proof that doesn’t use a big combinatorial hammer, though I got the idea from a proof of the Erdős-Rado theorem. Let $S=\{\alpha<\mathfrak{c}^+:\operatorname{cf}\alpha=\omega_1\}$. For each $\alpha\in S$ and $n\in\omega$ construct a finite sequence $\langle\beta(\alpha,n,k):k<\ell(\alpha,n)\rangle$ as follows. If $\{\gamma<\alpha:f_\gamma(n)>f_\alpha(n)\}\ne\varnothing$, let $$\beta(\alpha,n,0)=\min\{\gamma<\alpha:f_\gamma(n)>f_\alpha(n)\}\;;\tag{1}$$ otherwise let $\ell(\alpha,n)=0$. Given $\beta(\alpha,n,k)$, let
$$\beta(\alpha,n,k+1)=\min\{\gamma<\alpha:f_{\beta(\alpha,n,k)}(n)>f_\gamma(n)>f_\alpha(n)\}\tag{2}$$
if such an ordinal exists, and otherwise let $\ell(\alpha,n)=k+1$. Since $\beta(\alpha,n,k)>\beta(\alpha,n,k+1)$ whenever both ordinals are defined, $\ell(\alpha,n)\in\omega$ for each $\alpha\in S$ and $n\in\omega$. For each $\alpha\in S$ let $A_\alpha=\bigcup_{n\in\omega}\{\beta(\alpha,n,k):k<\ell(\alpha,n)\}$, and if $A_\alpha\ne\varnothing$, let $\eta_\alpha=\sup A_\alpha$; $A_\alpha$ is countable, so $\eta_\alpha<\alpha$. The map $\alpha\mapsto\eta_\alpha$ is a pressing-down function on $S_0=\{\alpha\in S:A_\alpha\ne\varnothing\}$.
If $S_0$ is stationary, then there are a stationary $S_1\subseteq S_0$ and an $\eta<\mathfrak{c}^+$ such that $\eta_\alpha=\eta$ for all $\alpha\in S_1$. There are only $\mathfrak{c}$ distinct possibilities for 
$$\left\{\{\beta(\alpha,n,k):k<\ell(n)\}:n\in\omega\right\}\;,$$
so there is $S_2\subseteq S_1$ such that $|S_2|=\mathfrak{c}$, and
$$\left\{\{\beta(\alpha_0,n,k):k<\ell(n)\}:n\in\omega\right\}=\left\{\{\beta(\alpha_1,n,k):k<\ell(n)\}:n\in\omega\right\}$$
for all $\alpha_0,\alpha_1\in S_2$. Suppose that there are $\alpha_0,\alpha_1\in S_2$ and $n\in\omega$ such that $\alpha_0<\alpha_1$ and $f_{\alpha_0}(n)>f_{\alpha_1}(n)$. Then for all $k<\ell(\alpha_1,n)$ we have $f_{\beta(\alpha_1,n,k)}(n)>f_{\alpha_0}(n)>f_{\alpha_1}(n)$, and $\beta\big(\alpha_1,n,\ell(\alpha_1,n)\big)$ should have been defined: there was at least one ordinal available, $\alpha_0$, that met the requirements of whichever of $(1)$ and $(2)$ was appropriate. This contradiction shows that if $\alpha_0,\alpha_1\in S_2$ with $\alpha_0<\alpha_1$, then $f_{\alpha_0}(n)\le f_{\alpha_1}(n)$ for all $n\in\omega$, which is the desired result.
Suppose now that $S_0$ is not stationary, and let $S_1=S\setminus S_0$; $S_1$ is stationary, so $|S_1|=\mathfrak{c}^+$. Suppose that $\alpha_0,\alpha_1\in S_1$ with $\alpha_0<\alpha_1$. $A_{\alpha_1}=\varnothing$, so for each $n\in\omega$ we must have $f_{\alpha_0}(n)\le f_{\alpha_1}(n)$,  which is again the desired result.