I am interested in the following language of predicates on ${\mathbb R}^n$, which I am calling **bounded**: * $f(x_1,...,x_k) > 0$, or $< 0$, or $\neq 0$, where $f$ is a polynomial in real variables but rational coefficients and the **inequality is strict**, so $=$, $\leq$ and $\geq$ are not allowed; * finite conjunction and disjunction, but **not negation or implication**; and * universal and existential quantification of any real variable over **bounded closed** intervals, not the whole real line. These predicates define **open** subspaces. They are a fragment of my [*Lambda Calculus for Real Analysis*](http://paultaylor.eu/ASD/lamcra). Any bounded predicate has a **partner** obtained as a "de Morgan dual", ie by switching $$ +/-,\quad >/<,\quad \top/\bot,\quad \min/\max,\quad \sup/\inf,\quad \land/\lor,\quad \forall/\exists. $$ For example, let $f(x)$ be a polynomial with one variable and one real root that increases from $-\infty$ to $+\infty$. Then the subsets $$ D = \{ x : f(x) < 0 \} \quad\mbox{and}\quad U = \{ x : f(x) > 0 \} $$ form a **Dedekind cut**, ie * $D$ is lower and $U$ is upper; * they are rounded (open), ie $\forall d\in D.\exists d'. d < d' \in D$; * they are inhabited; * they are disjoint; and * they are **order located**, ie $$ \forall d, u. d < u \Longrightarrow d\in D \lor u\in U $$ and **arithmetically located**, ie $$ \forall \epsilon > 0. \exists d\in D. \exists u\in U. |u-d| \lt \epsilon. $$ (Beware that there is another meaning of *located* in constructive analysis that says that the distance between two sets is a two-sided real number, but this is not what I mean.) The real number that $(D,U)$ represents is the root of the polynomial $f$. Given another Dedekind cut $(E,T)$, confusing them both with their values, $$ \min ( (D,U), (E, T) ) = ( (D \cap E), (E \cup T) ) $$ $$ \max ( (D,U), (E, T) ) = ( (D \cup E), (E \cap T) ) $$ Similarly, $\sup$ and $\inf$ correspond to $\bigcap$ and $\bigcup$, although I prefer to write predicates $\delta(x,y)$ and $\upsilon(x,y)$ with $\forall$ and $\exists$: $$ \inf \{ ( \delta(-,y), \upsilon(-,y) ) : y\in[a,b] \} = ( \forall x:[a,b].\delta(x,y), \exists x:[a,b].\upsilon (x,y) ) $$ $$ \sup \{ ( \delta(-,y), \upsilon(-,y) ) : y\in[a,b] \} = ( \exists x:[a,b].\delta(x,y), \forall x:[a,b].\upsilon (x,y) ) $$ Now consider a single polynomial inequality in one variable $f(x) > 0$, but with any number of real roots. There are finitely many open intervals where this is true and another finite number of them where $f(x) < 0$ instead. If $f$ has no repeated roots, the positive and negative intervals alternate, but otherwise they have single point holes. These two open sets are disjoint. I can think of ways of saying that they are order- or arithmetically located in the one-variable case, but **how can this be formulated for more variables?** The behaviour is similar when we add in the (bounded) logical operations. The predicates in my *Lambda Calculus* may involve $\exists x:{\mathbb R}$ and $\exists x:{\mathbb N}$, which I am calling **unbounded**. They still define open subsets of ${\mathbb R}^n$, but no longer with partners. They can be expressed as a *directed* joins of bounded predicates. I want to use these facts to obtain an algorithm for **translating Dedekind cuts** (expressed as two predicates in my *Lambda Calculus*) **into Cauchy sequences**. When I asked about this on the [*Constructive News* Google Group](http://groups.google.com/g/constructivenews/c/NKoRpwDA4MQ/m/L8VW-jS9AAAJ) my attention was drawn to the **Tarski-Seidenberg** theorem. That result is about **semi-algebraic sets**, in which $=$, $\leq$, $\geq$, $\lnot$, $\Rightarrow$ and quantification over the whole real line are also allowed. [Alfred Tarski showed](http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/reports/2008/R109.pdf) in 1948 that **quantifiers may be eliminated** from this (more general) language. Some [lecture notes by Andrew Marks at UCLA](http://www.math.ucla.edu/~marks/6c/15.pdf) sketch a proof of this. This was the only freely downloadable one that I could find, so some other online references would be appreciated. I have tried above to make it clear that I am interested in a more restricted language than semi-algebraic sets, but it is inevitable that discussion would be diverted to the Tarski-Seidenberg result. So I will go with that: **Can this theorem be adapted to my language with strict inequalities and bounded quantifiers?** If there is a counterexample, it would help me focus future discussion on the system that interests me. It is plausible that the T-S theorem can be adapted, because my bounded predicates certainly do define open subsets. As I have said, the reason why I am interested in this is to convert Dedekind cuts into Cauchy sequences. This is clearly an intellectual gap in the community to which I belong, which contains theoretical constructive topologists and analysts on the one hand and clever programmers doing "exact real" computation on the other. This community recently had a conference in Padova called [*Continuity, Computability, Constructivity: From Logic to Algorithms*](http://events.math.unipd.it/ccc2022/). My suspicion is that there is another community, possibly that of Computer Algebra, that would be able to fill this intellectual gap in ours.