Some Quantitative Results in Real Algebraic Geometry

Real algebraic geometry is the study of semi-algebraic sets, subsets of $\R^k$ defined by Boolean combinations of polynomial equalities and inequalities. The focus of this thesis is to study quantitative results in real algebraic geometry, primarily upper bounds on the topological complexity of semi-algebraic sets as measured, for example, by their Betti numbers. Another quantitative measure of topological complexity which we study is the number of homotopy types of semi-algebraic sets of bounde...