> The reason this is a more complicated situation is that an ordering of vectors in RkRk does not exist... how would one order the vectors u = (1,2,3), v = (2,1,3), w = (3,2,1)? It seems straightforward to order those vectors by first comparing the first component, then the second, then the third. The result is u,v,w. It's as if you wanted to sort a multi-column report in Excel. What am I missing?
Consider a simpler case of two dimensional real vectors. Lets consider the vector space of R^2, since all finite dimensional vector spaces of same dimensionality are isomorphic, R^2 is isomorphic to the complex numbers. How would you order the complex numbers?
You can use any order that can be defined on R^2. It's just that you can show that this order cannot satisfy the axioms of an ordered field.