(definition)
Definition: An order defined for all pairs of items of a set. For instance, ≤ (less than or equal to) is a total order on integers, that is, for any two integers, one of them is less than or equal to the other.
Formal Definition: A total order is a relation that is reflexive, transitive, antisymmetric, and total.
Also known as linear order.
See also partial order, chain.
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Entry modified Fri Dec 17 12:08:15 2004.
HTML page formatted Wed Oct 26 09:48:16 2005.
Cite this as:
Paul E. Black and Paul J. Tanenbaum, "total order", from
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data
Structures, Paul E. Black, ed.,
NIST.
http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/totalorder.html
