On the Dedekind completion of function rings

Abstract

This paper introduces the frame of partially defined real numbers and the lattice-ordered ring of partial real functions on a frame. This is then used to construct the order completion of rings of pointfree continuous real functions. The bounded and integer-valued cases are also analysed. The application of this pointfree approach to the classical case C(X) of the ring of continuous real-valued functions on a topological space X yields a new construction for the Dedekind completion of C(X), considerably more direct and natural than the known procedure using Hausdorff continuous functions.