Witt’s cancellation theorem seen as a cancellation

Abstract

The year 2017 marks the 80th anniversary of Witt’s famous paper containing key results, including the Witt cancellation theorem, which form the foundation for the algebraic theory of quadratic forms. We pay homage to this paper by presenting a transparent and algebraic proof of the Witt cancellation theorem, which itself is based on a cancellation. We also present an overview of some recent spectacular work which is still building on Witt’s original creation of the algebraic theory of quadratic forms.