TITLE: Connectedness of points with both rational or irrational coordinates in the plane?
QUESTION [12 upvotes]: Is the set of points in the plane whose coordinates are either both irrational, or both rational connected?

REPLY [15 votes]: Let $S$ be your set, and suppose $S = U \cup V$ where $U$ and $V$ are disjoint, and are both closed and open in $S$.  Note that if $x$ and $y$ are both rational, then the diagonal lines $\{(x+t, y+t): t \in {\mathbb R}\}$ and $\{(x+t,y-t): t \in {\mathbb R}\}$ are subsets of $S$.  Using a path of diagonal line segments, it is possible to get from any point of ${\mathbb Q} \times {\mathbb Q}$ to any other while staying in $S$.  Therefore one of $U$ and $V$, let's say $U$, contains all of ${\mathbb Q} \times {\mathbb Q}$.  But  ${\mathbb Q} \times {\mathbb Q}$ is dense in $S$, and $U$ is closed in $S$ so $U = S$. 
For extra credit, show that $S$ is path-connected.  In fact, if $a < b$ and $c < d$ with $(a,c)$ and $(c,d)$ in $S$, there is a continuous increasing function $f: [a,b] \to [c,d]$
such that $f(x)$ is rational if and only if $x$ is rational.