getBaseField -- the base field of a Grothendieck-Witt class

Synopsis

• Usage:

  getBaseField beta

• Inputs:
  • beta, a Grothendieck-Witt Class, the isomorphism class of a non-degenerate symmetric bilinear form over a field of characteristic not 2
• Outputs:
  • a ring, the base field of the Grothendieck-Witt class beta

Description

Given the isomorphism class of a symmetric bilinear form, beta, this command outputs the base field of the form.

i1 : beta = makeGWClass matrix(QQ, {{0,2},{2,0}});

i2 : getBaseField beta

o2 = QQ

o2 : Ring

See also

• GrothendieckWittClass -- a new type, intended to capture the isomorphism class of an element of the Grothendieck-Witt ring of a base field