A geometric model of an arbitrary real closed field (Q372515)

A real closed field \(R\) has a transcendence basis \(B\) over \(\mathbb{Q}\). The total order of \(R\) restricts to a total order of the function field \(\mathbb{Q}(B)\) (in general with infinitely many variables), and \(R\) is the real closure of the totally ordered field \(\mathbb{Q}(B)\). The author starts with the totally ordered function field \(\mathbb{Q}(B)\) and shows how the real closure can be constructed using rings of Nash functions. He considers semi-algebraic subsets of \(\mathbb{R}^B\) and Nash functions on open semi-algebraic subsets, where both the sets and the functions are defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\). Then he shows that \(R\) is the direct limit of a suitably chosen directed system of rings of Nash functions.