 Euler characteristic of a coherent sheaf

On a proper scheme over a field, the Euler characteristic of a coherent sheaf is $\chi (X,\mathcal{F})={\sum }_i(-1{)}^i\dim H^i(X,\mathcal{F})$. The sum is finite by Grothendieck vanishing, and long exact sequences in sheaf cohomology make it additive in short exact sequences of sheaves.