Order Theory/Total orders

Definition (total order):

An order $\leq$ on a set $S$ is said to be total if and only if for each $x,y\in S$, exactly one of the possibilities $x<y$, $x=y$ or $x>y$ occurs.

{{proposition|series order induced by total orders is total|Whenever $A$ is a totally ordered set

Proposition (lexicographic order induced by total orders is total):

Whenever $A$ is a well-ordered set and $(S_{\alpha },\leq _{\alpha })_{\alpha \in A}$ are totally ordered sets, the lexicographic order on $\prod _{\alpha \in A}S_{\alpha }$ is total.

Proof: Let any two elements $(s_{\alpha })_{\alpha \in A}$ and $(t_{\alpha })_{\alpha \in A}$ of $\prod _{\alpha \in A}S_{\alpha }$ be given. Then either $(s_{\alpha })_{\alpha \in A}=(t_{\alpha })_{\alpha \in A}$, or there exists a smallest $\beta \in A$ so that $s_{\beta }\neq t_{\beta }$. Since $\leq _{\beta }$ is total, either $s_{\beta }<t_{\beta }$ or $s_{\beta }>t_{\beta }$, and thus either $(s_{\alpha })_{\alpha \in A}<(t_{\alpha })_{\alpha \in A}$ or $(s_{\alpha })_{\alpha \in A}>(t_{\alpha })_{\alpha \in A}$. $\Box$