Quantifier elimination for real closed fields by cylindrical algebraic decomposition--preliminary report

Abstract

Tarski in 1948, [18] published a quantifier elimination method for the elementary theory of real closed fields (which he had discovered in 1930). As noted by Tarski, any quantifier elimination method for this theory also provides a decision method, which enables one to decide whether any sentence of the theory is true or false. Since many important and difficult mathematical problems can be expressed in this theory, any computationally feasible quantifier elimination algorithm would be of utmost significance.