Let
R be a real closed field, let
X\,\subset \,{{R}^{n}} be an irreducible real algebraic set and let
Z be an algebraic subset of
X of codimension ≥ 2. Dubois and Efroymson proved the existence of an irreducible algebraic subset of
X of codimension 1 containing
Z. We improve this dimension theorem as follows. Indicate by
\mu the minimum integer such that the ideal of polynomials in
R\left[ {{x}_{1}}\,,\,.\,.\,.\,,\,{{x}_{n}} \right]
vanishing on
Z can be generated by polynomials of degree
\le \,\mu. We prove the following two results: (1) There exists a polynomial
P\,\in \,R\left[ {{x}_{1}}\,,\,.\,.\,.\,,\,{{x}_{n}} \right]
of degree
\le \,\mu +1 such that
X\cap {{P}^{-1}}\left( 0 \right)
is an irreducible algebraic subset of
X of codimension 1 containing
Z. (2) Let
F be a polynomial in
R\left[ {{x}_{1}}\,,\,.\,.\,.\,,\,{{x}_{n}} \right]
of degree
d vanishing on
Z. Suppose there exists a nonsingular point
x of
X such that
F\left( x \right)\,=\,0 and the differential at
x of the restriction of
F to
X is nonzero. Then there exists a polynomial
G\,\in \,R\left[ {{x}_{1}}\,,\,.\,.\,.\,,\,{{x}_{n}} \right]
of degree
\le \,\max \{d,\,\mu \,+\,1\} such that, for each
t\,\in \,\left( -1,\,1 \right)\,\backslash \,\{0\}, the set
\{x\in X|F\left( x \right)+tG\left( x \right)=0\} is an irreducible algebraic subset of
X of codimension 1 containing
Z. Result (1) and a slightly different version of result (2) are valid over any algebraically closed field also.