Lexicographic ordering

Lexicographic (or dictionary ordering) is a strict total ordering $<$ on the $\alpha$ -tuple $A = \prod_{\beta < \alpha} A_{\beta}$ of totally ordered sets for some ordinal $\alpha$ using the strict total orderings $<_{\beta}$ of $A_{\beta}, \beta < \alpha$ .

Formal Definition

For $(a,b) \in A^2$ , letting $a_{\beta}$ and $b_{\beta}$ denote the $\beta^{\text{th}}$ components of $a$ and $b$ respectively, we say $a < b$ iff $(\exists \gamma \leq \alpha)((\forall \beta < \gamma)(a_{\beta} = b_{\beta}) \wedge (a_{\gamma} <_{\gamma} b_{\gamma}))$ .

Page

Toolbox

Search

Lexicographic ordering

Formal Definition