Real algebra and its applications to geometry in the last ten years: Some major developments and results (Q4037340)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0756.00007.] This survey paper is devoted to the progress of real algebra in the last 10 years. It is not of encyclopedic character (even if the references are more than 90) and consists in explaining main ideas and results in a remarkably well chosen list of important topics. Among them the composition problem for sums of squares, the study of Pythagoras numbers, the extension of algebraic results on polynomials to real analytic functions, the representation of basic semi-algebraic sets by few polynomial inequalities. The first part is devoted to sums of squares, the second part to sum of higher powers and the third part to applications of real algebra to geometry. -- It is a very useful presentation of the major problems in this topic.