For a short reminder about ordered fields you can have a look to following post. We prove there that \(\mathbb{Q}\) can be ordered in only one way.

That is also the case of \(\mathbb{R}\) as \(\mathbb{R}\) is a real-closed field. And one can prove that the only possible positive cone of a real-closed field is the subset of squares.

However \(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{2})\) is a subfield of \(\mathbb{R}\) that can be ordered in two distinct ways. Continue reading A field that can be ordered in two distinct ways →

Introduction to ordered fields

Let \(K\) be a field. An ordering of \(K\) is a subset \(P\) of \(K\) having the following properties:

ORD 1

Given \(x \in K\), we have either \(x \in P\), or \(x=0\), or \(-x \in P\), and these three possibilities are mutually exclusive. In other words, \(K\) is the disjoint union of \(P\), \(\{0\}\), and \(-P\).

ORD 2

If \(x, y \in P\), then \(x+y\) and \(xy \in P\).

We shall also say that \(K\) is ordered by \(P\), and we call \(P\) the set of positive elements. Continue reading An infinite field that cannot be ordered →