R. Parimala, V. Suresh, and J.-P. Tignol: On the Pfister Number of Quadratic Forms

vssm@uohyd.ernet.in

Submission: 2008, Aug 29

The generic quadratic form of even dimension n with trivial discriminant over an arbitrary field of characteristic different from 2 containing a square root of -1 can be written in the Witt ring as a sum of 2-fold Pfister forms using n-2 terms and not less. The number of 2-fold Pfister forms needed to express a quadratic form of dimension 6 with trivial discriminant is determined in various cases.

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 11E04, 11E81

Keywords and Phrases: quadratic forms, Pfister numbers.

Full text: dvi.gz 26 k, dvi 63 k, ps.gz 677 k, pdf.gz 144 k, pdf 164 k.


Server Home Page