[Math] Impossibility of ordering the complex numbers

complex numbers

I have to exposition about the impossibility of ordering the complex numbers:

Axioms $6$: Exactly one of the relations $x = y$, $x < y$, $x > y$ holds.

Axioms $7$: If $x < y$, then for every z we have x + z < y + z.

Axioms $8$: If $x > y$ and $y > z$, then $x > z$

As yet we have not defined a relation of the form $x < y$ if $x$ and $y$
are arbitrary complex numbers, for the reason that it is impossible to give a definition of $<$ for complex numbers which will have all the properties in Axioms $6$ through $8$. To
illustrate, suppose we were able to define an order relation $<$ satisfying Axioms
$6$, $7$, and $8$. Then, since $i \neq 0$, we must have either $i > 0$ or $i < 0$, by Axiom 6.
Let us assume $i > 0$.
Then taking, $x = y = i$ in Axiom $8$, we get $i^2 > 0$, or
$-1 > 0$. Adding 1 to both sides (Axiom $7$), we get $0 > 1$. On the other hand,
applying Axiom $8$ to $-1 > 0$ we find $1 > 0$.
Thus we have both $0 > 1$ and
$1 > 0$, which, by Axiom $6$, is impossible. Hence the assumption $i > 0$ leads
us
to a contradiction. [Why was the inequality $-1 > 0$ not already a contradiction?]
A similar argument shows that we cannot have $i < 0$. Hence the complex numbers
cannot be ordered in such a way that Axioms $6$, $7$, and $8$ will be satisfied.

But Why was the inequality $-1 > 0$ not already a contradiction? and it is true for $i < 0$?

Best Answer

Axioms 6, 7 and 8 are not sufficient for excluding the possibility to order the complex numbers.

If you define $a+bi\prec c+di$ ($a,b,c,d\in\mathbb{R}$) when either $a<c$ or $a=c$ and $b<d$, you get an order relation satisfying those axioms.

The contradiction will show up only if you add another axiom:

if $x<y$ and $0<z$, then $xz<yz$

First step: proving that $0<1$.

There are two cases: $1<0$ or $0<1$. Suppose $1<0$; then $1-1<0-1$, so $0<-1$. Hence $0(-1)<(-1)(-1)$, that is $0<1$: a contradiction.

Second step: proving that $-1<0$

Since $0<1$, we have $0-1<1-1$.

Third step: getting a contradiction

Suppose $0<i$; then $0i<i^2$, that is, $0<-1$, a contradiction.

Suppose $i<0$; then $i-i<0-i$ and $0<-i$; then $0(-i)<(-i)^2$, that is, $0<-1$, a contradiction.

Conclusion

Axiom 6 cannot hold for $x=0$ and $y=i$.

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