We will denote an arbitrary ordering relation by $R$. We will establish some preliminary definitions: - An ordering $R$ is *reflexive* if and only if $xRx$, for all $x$ in the domain of $R$. - An ordering $R$ is *irreflexive* if and only if $\neg xRx$. - An ordering $R$ is *transitive* if and only if $xRy$ and $yRz$ implies $xRz$, for all $x$, $y$, and $z$. - An ordering $R$ is *antisymmetric* if and only if $xRy$ and $yRx$ implies $x=y$. - An ordering $R$ is *trichotomous* if and only if $xRy$, $x=y$, or $yRx$ for all $x$ and $y$ in the field of $R$. ## Partial Ordering A *partial ordering* consists of a relation along with a set such as $( A , \le )$ such that the order is reflexive, transitive, and antisymmetric for all members of $A$. A *strict partial ordering* consists of an ordered pair $( A , \lt )$ that is irreflexive and transitive for all members of $A$. All strict partial orders are *asymmetric*, meaning that $xRy$ implies that $\neg yRx$. ## Total Ordering A *total ordering* consists of a partial ordering where any two elements are comparable, that is, for all $x$ and $y$ in $A$, $x\le y \lor y\le x$ A *strict total ordering* is a strict partial ordering that is also trichotomous. ## Well-Founded Relations A *minimal element* of $B$ with respect to a strict ordering relation $\lt$ is an element $x$ of $B$ that is not greater than any other element in $B$. That is $\forall y \in B: \neg y \lt x$ A *well-founded relation* is an ordering $\lt$ under $A$ such that any nonempty subset $x$ of $A$ contains a minimal element. There are many interesting properties of well-founded relations. For example, all well-founded relations do not have any ordering "loops". That is, they are irreflexive, asymmetric, etc. Well-founded relations do not have any infinitely descending lt;$-chains. Another way to state this is that no function $f$ mapping the natural numbers to well-founded set $A$ where $f(n+1) < f(n)$ for all natural numbers $n$. Any subset of $A$, even if it is a proper class, must have a minimal element. The proof of this is not as straightforward as it sounds. We can also prove schemas of well-founded induction and well-founded recursion; the first strongly resembles epsilon induction, while the second defines a function $F(x)$ in terms of a function $G$ of the restriction of $F$ to the initial segment of $x$. An *initial segment* or *extension* of $x$ is the collection of all sets in $A$ less than $x$. We call a well-founded relation *setlike* if the initial segments of all the elements of $A$ are elements. ## Well-Ordering Relations A *well-ordering* relation is a well-founded relation that is also a strict total order. Equivalently, we can also define a well-ordering relation as a well-founded relation that satisfies trichotomy. The ordinals can be defined as the set of all transitive sets that are well-ordered by the membership relation. The [](Well-ordering%20principle.md) shows that all sets have some well-order associated with them. All well-ordered sets are [order-isomorphic](Order-isomorphism.md "Order-isomorphism") to the ordinals.