If one Euler witness exists modulo , multiplication by injects the set of nonwitnesses into the set of witnesses. Indeed, the product of with a nonwitness cannot be another nonwitness, because cancellation and multiplicativity of the Jacobi symbol would make a nonwitness. Thus at least half of the units modulo are Euler witnesses.
Every odd composite integer has an Euler witness. For a nonsquarefree integer, a base congruent to modulo a repeated prime factor fails the Euler congruence by the binomial theorem. For a squarefree integer, use the Chinese remainder theorem to choose a base that is a quadratic nonresidue modulo one prime factor and modulo another. Its Jacobi symbol is , while its power is modulo the second factor.
Kronecker symbol Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
The Kronecker symbol extends the Jacobi symbol to all integer denominators. For a fundamental discriminant , the function is the primitive quadratic Dirichlet character associated with .
For odd positive , the Jacobi symbol is multiplicative in its numerator:
It is also multiplicative in an odd denominator: .
The Chinese remainder theorem says that for pairwise coprime positive moduli , arbitrary residue classes modulo each specify one residue class modulo . For an odd positive integer , the Jacobi symbol is , where each factor is a Legendre symbol; for the empty product is one. The Jacobi symbol is multiplicative in , and is zero exactly when and have a common prime factor.
True. Since is not a square, some exponent is odd. Choose a quadratic nonresidue modulo that and choose residue one at every other prime. The Chinese remainder theorem produces a unit modulo with . Multiplication by permutes the residue classes modulo . Thus, by multiplicativity of the Jacobi symbol,
The sum is therefore . Nonunits contribute zero, so the permutation argument covers every term.
False. The Jacobi symbol , yet is not a quadratic residue modulo three. A solution modulo fifteen would give one modulo three, which is impossible. A positive Jacobi symbol need not indicate a square modulo a composite modulus.
True. First suppose with maximal. By the Chinese remainder theorem, choose and modulo all other prime-power factors. This is a unit, with Jacobi symbol one, because it is one modulo every prime. For , the binomial theorem gives
because and all higher terms contain . It is therefore a witness to the desired failure.
If is square-free and composite, it has at least two prime factors. Choose to be a quadratic nonresidue at one prime and one at every other prime, again using the Chinese remainder theorem. Then . At a different odd prime , however, . These two cases prove that every odd composite has an Euler-Jacobi witness, unlike the situation for the ordinary Fermat primality test.
An Euler pseudoprime is an odd composite number with satisfying , where the right side is the Jacobi symbol. A weaker convention requires only ; it is distinguished below. A strong pseudoprime, with and odd, satisfies or for some .
By the Chinese remainder theorem for unit groups, the unit group modulo is . Modulo , . Thus the only possible sign in is positive. Modulo , writing for a primitive root, the condition is , equivalently . Consequently has multiplicative order dividing in each factor. Its square is either or in each factor, but these signs must agree: modulo , the Legendre symbol is for square and for square , and the same is true modulo . The Euler pseudoprime condition additionally requires the product of those Legendre symbols to be . Hence
Each sign has two roots modulo each prime, hence four roots modulo . There are eight pseudoprime bases modulo under the Jacobi symbol convention. Under the weaker sign-only convention there are instead sixteen pseudoprime bases, since the two signs of the squares need not agree; the stated equivalence therefore specifically uses the Jacobi symbol convention.
For the strong pseudoprime condition, . Since the unit group has exponent of a finite group , the only possibilities are or . The six pseudoprime bases are . For example , while has but . Thus the strong-pseudoprime pseudoprime bases are not a subgroup.