In mathematics, the dimension of a partially ordered set (poset) is the smallest number of total orders the intersection of which gives rise to the partial order. This concept is also sometimes called the order dimension or the Dushnik–Miller dimension of the partial order. first studied order dimension; for a more detailed treatment of this subject than provided here, see . Formal definition The dimension of a poset P is the least integer t for which there exists a family of linear extensions of P so that, for every x and y in P, x precedes y in P if and only if it precedes y in all of the linear extensions. That is, An alternative definition of order dimension is the minimal number of total orders such that P embeds into their product with componentwise ordering i.e. if and only if for all i (, ). Realizers A family of linear orders on X is called a realizer of a poset P = (X, <P) if , which is to say that for any x and y in X, x <P y precisely when x <1 y, x <2 y, ..., and x <t y. Thus, an equivalent definition of the dimension of a poset P is "the least cardinality of a realizer of P." It can be shown that any nonempty family R of linear extensions is a realizer of a finite partially ordered set P if and only if, for every critical pair (x,y) of P, y <i x for some order <i in R. Example Let n be a positive integer, and let P be the partial order on the elements ai and bi (for 1 ≤ i ≤ n) in which ai ≤ bj whenever i ≠ j, but no other pairs are comparable. In particular, ai and bi are incomparable in P; P can be viewed as an oriented form of a crown graph. The illustration shows an ordering of this type for n = 4. Then, for each i, any realizer must contain a linear order that begins with all the aj except ai (in some order), then includes bi, then ai, and ends with all the remaining bj. This is so because if there were a realizer that didn't include such an order, then the intersection of that realizer's orders would have ai preceding bi, which would contradict the incomparability of ai