[Jonathan Castello](https://forum.azimuthproject.org/profile/2316/Jonathan%20Castello)
> I believe the hyperreal numbers give an example of a dense total order that embeds the reals without being isomorphic to it. (I can’t speak to the gaps condition though, and it’s just plausible that they’re isomorphic at the level of mere posets rather than ordered fields.)

In fact, while they are not isomorphic as lattices, they are in fact isomorphic as mere posets as you intuited.

First, we can observe that \$$|\mathbb{R}| = |^\ast \mathbb{R}|\$$. This is because \$$^\ast \mathbb{R}\$$ embeds \$$\mathbb{R}\$$ and is constructed from countably infinitely many copies of \$$\mathbb{R}\$$ and taking a [quotient algebra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotient_algebra) modulo a free ultra-filter. We have been talking about quotient algebras and filters in a couple other threads.

Next, observe that all [unbounded dense linear orders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dense_order) of cardinality \$$\aleph_0\$$ are isomorphic. This is due to a rather old theorem credited to George Cantor. Next, apply the [Morley categoricity theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morley%27s_categoricity_theorem). From this we have that all unbounded dense linear orders with cardinality \$$\kappa \geq \aleph_0\$$ are isomorphic. This is referred to in model theory as *\$$\kappa\$$-categoricity*.

Since the hypperreals and the reals have the same cardinality, they are isomorphic as unbounded dense linear orders.

**Puzzle MD 1:** Prove Cantor's theorem that all countable unbounded dense linear orders are isomorphic.