One way to define an ordered ring is as a ring with a total order $\leq$, satisfying
- $x\leq y\implies x+z\leq y+z$;
- $0\leq x$ and $0\leq y\implies 0\leq xy$.
Does it hurt to replace 1. with the condition
- $x<y\implies x+z<y+z$?
What about for fields?
One way to define an ordered ring is as a ring with a total order $\leq$, satisfying
Does it hurt to replace 1. with the condition
What about for fields?
On
Certainly, if you know (3), then (1) is an easy consequence. On the other hand, if you know (1), you might worry that you have a case when $x < y$ but $x + z = y + z$ (this is the only way you could possibly not satisfy (3)). But this is impossible---if $x + z = y + z$, then $x = y$, and therefore you couldn't have had $x < y$ (by virtue of $<$ being a total order).
If you define $$x < y ⇔ (x ≤ y ~\text{and}~ x≠ y),$$ note that $$(A)~~ x = y ⇒ x + z = y + z \quad \text{and}\quad (B)~~x ≠ y ⇒ x + z ≠ y + z.$$ Now “(A) and (3) ⇒ (1)” and “(1) and (B) ⇒ (3)” are straightforward by case differentiation.
(A) is always true and (B) (being the converse to (A)) is true if addition is right-cancellable (which always holds for rings).
If you think about semi-rings, consider $ℕ_0 = (ℕ_0,·,\max,≤)$ with the usual notion of “$≤$”. This is a semi-ring. Note that $0 < 1$, but $0·0 = 0·1$, where (1) and (2) certainly hold.
(If you want an multiplcative identity, extend by $∞$, defining $0·∞ = 0$ and $n·∞ = ∞$ else. This should work – not sure, though.)