# Partial Order A **partial order** defines a notion of a comparison. However, we do not need to be able to compare every single element in our set. If we can compare all elements in our set, then we have a **total order**. --- Date: 20211026 Links to: [Equivalence-Classes-and-Relations](Equivalence-Classes-and-Relations.md) [Topological-Sort](Topological-Sort.md) [Relation](Relation.md) [Mathematics MOC](Mathematics%20MOC.md) Tags: References: * [Youtube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R36F8CWAi2k) * [Wikipedia linear extension](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_extension) * [Wikipedia Partial Order](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partially_ordered_set#Partial_order) * [Wikipedia Total Order](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_order)