Euler's criterionIn number theory, Euler's criterion is a formula for determining whether an integer is a quadratic residue modulo a prime. Precisely, Let p be an odd prime and a be an integer coprime to p. Then Euler's criterion can be concisely reformulated using the Legendre symbol: The criterion first appeared in a 1748 paper by Leonhard Euler. The proof uses the fact that the residue classes modulo a prime number are a field. See the article prime field for more details.
Quartic reciprocityQuartic or biquadratic reciprocity is a collection of theorems in elementary and algebraic number theory that state conditions under which the congruence x4 ≡ p (mod q) is solvable; the word "reciprocity" comes from the form of some of these theorems, in that they relate the solvability of the congruence x4 ≡ p (mod q) to that of x4 ≡ q (mod p). Euler made the first conjectures about biquadratic reciprocity. Gauss published two monographs on biquadratic reciprocity.
Jacobi symbolJacobi symbol k/n for various k (along top) and n (along left side). Only 0 ≤ k < n are shown, since due to rule (2) below any other k can be reduced modulo n. Quadratic residues are highlighted in yellow — note that no entry with a Jacobi symbol of −1 is a quadratic residue, and if k is a quadratic residue modulo a coprime n, then k/n = 1, but not all entries with a Jacobi symbol of 1 (see the n = 9 and n = 15 rows) are quadratic residues. Notice also that when either n or k is a square, all values are nonnegative.
Fermat's theorem on sums of two squaresIn additive number theory, Fermat's theorem on sums of two squares states that an odd prime p can be expressed as: with x and y integers, if and only if The prime numbers for which this is true are called Pythagorean primes. For example, the primes 5, 13, 17, 29, 37 and 41 are all congruent to 1 modulo 4, and they can be expressed as sums of two squares in the following ways: On the other hand, the primes 3, 7, 11, 19, 23 and 31 are all congruent to 3 modulo 4, and none of them can be expressed as the sum of two squares.
Gauss's lemma (number theory)Gauss's lemma in number theory gives a condition for an integer to be a quadratic residue. Although it is not useful computationally, it has theoretical significance, being involved in some proofs of quadratic reciprocity. It made its first appearance in Carl Friedrich Gauss's third proof (1808) of quadratic reciprocity and he proved it again in his fifth proof (1818). For any odd prime p let a be an integer that is coprime to p. Consider the integers and their least positive residues modulo p.
Square (algebra)In mathematics, a square is the result of multiplying a number by itself. The verb "to square" is used to denote this operation. Squaring is the same as raising to the power 2, and is denoted by a superscript 2; for instance, the square of 3 may be written as 32, which is the number 9. In some cases when superscripts are not available, as for instance in programming languages or plain text files, the notations x^2 (caret) or x**2 may be used in place of x2. The adjective which corresponds to squaring is quadratic.
Dirichlet characterIn analytic number theory and related branches of mathematics, a complex-valued arithmetic function is a Dirichlet character of modulus (where is a positive integer) if for all integers and : that is, is completely multiplicative. (gcd is the greatest common divisor) that is, is periodic with period . The simplest possible character, called the principal character, usually denoted , (see Notation below) exists for all moduli: The German mathematician Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet—for whom the character is named—introduced these functions in his 1837 paper on primes in arithmetic progressions.
Fermat numberIn mathematics, a Fermat number, named after Pierre de Fermat, the first known to have studied them, is a positive integer of the form where n is a non-negative integer. The first few Fermat numbers are: 3, 5, 17, 257, 65537, 4294967297, 18446744073709551617, ... . If 2k + 1 is prime and k > 0, then k itself must be a power of 2, so 2k + 1 is a Fermat number; such primes are called Fermat primes. , the only known Fermat primes are F0 = 3, F1 = 5, F2 = 17, F3 = 257, and F4 = 65537 ; heuristics suggest that there are no more.
Primitive root modulo nIn modular arithmetic, a number g is a primitive root modulo n if every number a coprime to n is congruent to a power of g modulo n. That is, g is a primitive root modulo n if for every integer a coprime to n, there is some integer k for which gk ≡ a (mod n). Such a value k is called the index or discrete logarithm of a to the base g modulo n. So g is a primitive root modulo n if and only if g is a generator of the multiplicative group of integers modulo n.
Class number formulaIn number theory, the class number formula relates many important invariants of a number field to a special value of its Dedekind zeta function. We start with the following data: K is a number field. [K : Q] = n = r1 + 2r2, where r1 denotes the number of real embeddings of K, and 2r2 is the number of complex embeddings of K. ζK(s) is the Dedekind zeta function of K. hK is the class number, the number of elements in the ideal class group of K. RegK is the regulator of K. wK is the number of roots of unity contained in K.
Congruence of squaresIn number theory, a congruence of squares is a congruence commonly used in integer factorization algorithms. Given a positive integer n, Fermat's factorization method relies on finding numbers x and y satisfying the equality We can then factor n = x2 − y2 = (x + y)(x − y). This algorithm is slow in practice because we need to search many such numbers, and only a few satisfy the equation. However, n may also be factored if we can satisfy the weaker congruence of squares condition: From here we easily deduce This means that n divides the product (x + y)(x − y).
Cubic reciprocityCubic reciprocity is a collection of theorems in elementary and algebraic number theory that state conditions under which the congruence x3 ≡ p (mod q) is solvable; the word "reciprocity" comes from the form of the main theorem, which states that if p and q are primary numbers in the ring of Eisenstein integers, both coprime to 3, the congruence x3 ≡ p (mod q) is solvable if and only if x3 ≡ q (mod p) is solvable. Sometime before 1748 Euler made the first conjectures about the cubic residuacity of small integers, but they were not published until 1849, after his death.
Kronecker symbolIn number theory, the Kronecker symbol, written as or , is a generalization of the Jacobi symbol to all integers . It was introduced by . Let be a non-zero integer, with prime factorization where is a unit (i.e., ), and the are primes. Let be an integer. The Kronecker symbol is defined by For odd , the number is simply the usual Legendre symbol. This leaves the case when . We define by Since it extends the Jacobi symbol, the quantity is simply when .
Legendre symbolIn number theory, the Legendre symbol is a multiplicative function with values 1, −1, 0 that is a quadratic character modulo of an odd prime number p: its value at a (nonzero) quadratic residue mod p is 1 and at a non-quadratic residue (non-residue) is −1. Its value at zero is 0. The Legendre symbol was introduced by Adrien-Marie Legendre in 1798 in the course of his attempts at proving the law of quadratic reciprocity. Generalizations of the symbol include the Jacobi symbol and Dirichlet characters of higher order.
Quadratic formIn mathematics, a quadratic form is a polynomial with terms all of degree two ("form" is another name for a homogeneous polynomial). For example, is a quadratic form in the variables x and y. The coefficients usually belong to a fixed field K, such as the real or complex numbers, and one speaks of a quadratic form over K. If , and the quadratic form equals zero only when all variables are simultaneously zero, then it is a definite quadratic form; otherwise it is an isotropic quadratic form.
Dirichlet's theorem on arithmetic progressionsIn number theory, Dirichlet's theorem, also called the Dirichlet prime number theorem, states that for any two positive coprime integers a and d, there are infinitely many primes of the form a + nd, where n is also a positive integer. In other words, there are infinitely many primes that are congruent to a modulo d. The numbers of the form a + nd form an arithmetic progression and Dirichlet's theorem states that this sequence contains infinitely many prime numbers.
Quadratic reciprocityIn number theory, the law of quadratic reciprocity is a theorem about modular arithmetic that gives conditions for the solvability of quadratic equations modulo prime numbers. Due to its subtlety, it has many formulations, but the most standard statement is: Let p and q be distinct odd prime numbers, and define the Legendre symbol as: Then: This law, together with its supplements, allows the easy calculation of any Legendre symbol, making it possible to determine whether there is an integer solution for any quadratic equation of the form for an odd prime ; that is, to determine the "perfect squares" modulo .
Pierre de FermatPierre de Fermat (pjɛʁ də fɛʁma; between 31 October and 6 December 1607 – 12 January 1665) was a French mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus, including his technique of adequality. In particular, he is recognized for his discovery of an original method of finding the greatest and the smallest ordinates of curved lines, which is analogous to that of differential calculus, then unknown, and his research into number theory.
Square numberIn mathematics, a square number or perfect square is an integer that is the square of an integer; in other words, it is the product of some integer with itself. For example, 9 is a square number, since it equals 32 and can be written as 3 × 3. The usual notation for the square of a number n is not the product n × n, but the equivalent exponentiation n2, usually pronounced as "n squared". The name square number comes from the name of the shape. The unit of area is defined as the area of a unit square (1 × 1).
