Let $I$ be a poset and for any $i$ let $P_i$ be a poset. Let $P$ be the sum over $I$ of the sets $P_i$, and let $<_P$ be the relation defined on $P$ by $q<_Pr$ iff $q$ and $r$ are members of the same $P_i$ and $q<_ir$ or $q$ is member of $P_j$ $r$ is member of $P_k$ and $j<_ik$. Maybe that formally, I should have taken $Q_i$ as the cartesian product of the singleton of $i$ with $P_i$, and $Q$ as the union of the $Q_i$'s, and compared couples as $(i,q)$ and $(j,r)$. Anyway, it is clear that $P$, equipped with our relation is a poset, that is the poset sum over $I$ of the posets $P_i$. Particularly, in the case that $I$ and $P_i$ all are totally ordered sets , $P$ is a totally ordered set. And, in this particular case, a theorem of Schoenflies asserts that "every (totally) ordered set is the union of scattered sets over a densely ordered indexing set";
Question: does there exist a similar decomposition theorem in the general case of posets ?
Gérard Lang