Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/iii/paper-144/3/i/solution

In a real closed field, the formula defines the nonnegative elements. A quantifier-free formula in one variable over the prime field is a Boolean combination of polynomial equations, so in an infinite field it defines a finite or cofinite set. The nonnegative cone is neither finite nor cofinite. Hence the Theory of real closed fields does not eliminate quantifiers in the pure ring language.

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