Ordered groups and ordered geometries (Q2255388)

The authors study the relationship between ordered geometries and ordered groups. They show that a singular metric plane in the sense of \textit{F. Bachmann} [Ebene Spiegelungsgeometrie. Eine Vorlesung über Hjelmslev-Gruppen. Mannheim etc.: BI-Wissenschaftsverlag (1989; Zbl 0681.51001)] can be ordered if and only if the translation group admits an ordering with certain special properties. This implies in particular that Euclidean, Minkowskian or Galilean planes admit an ordering if and only if their coordinatizing fields do. The paper also contains an axiomatic analysis of the Pasch axiom. For an ordinary metric plane, the set of translations does not form a group and hence the authors' approach does not work in this case.