Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2009
For a pythagorean field F with semiordering Q and associated preordering T, it is shown that the Witt ring WT (F) is isomorphic to the Witt ring W (K) whre K is a closure of F with respect to Q. For an arbitrary preordering T, it is shown how the covering number of T relates to the construction of WT (F).