Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2009
We introduce the notion of a positively independent set of elements in an ordered module. With this concept we determine a necessary and sufficient condition which insures that on a strictly ordered module over a strictly ordered ring there exists a strict total order refining the given order. This generalizes a previous result of Fuchs, concerning the case of ordered abelian groups.
As an application, let R be a strictly ordered totally ordered ring and let M be the R-module of all mappings from a set I into R, with pointwise order; then this order on M may be refined to a strict total order.