Take the odd congruence class . The congruent number elliptic curve in the standard scaled coordinates is
These are the two curves in two-isogeny descent. On , the prime-support bound in two-isogeny descent restricts the first image to . All four classes occur: the 2-torsion points give , , and . Thus .
On , the equation forces whenever . Its exceptional value is . The second image is therefore contained in . Use the quartic covering in a two-isogeny descent to exclude its three nontrivial candidates.
For , a rational solution can be written with coprime integral , and must satisfy
Then , so . Since , is not a quadratic residue; a sum of two squares is zero only if both are zero. This forces , contradicting coprimality. For , the same reasoning applies to and again forces .
For , the equation is
It implies , whence . Exactly one of odd is impossible by parity, while both even contradict coprimality. Thus both are odd. Since implies , reduction modulo sixteen gives . But the possible residues of modulo sixteen are . This contradiction eliminates . Consequently and the square-class index formula for two-isogeny descent gives
The reduction argument for used earlier bounds rational torsion by four for every nonzero integer : its point-count cancellation at does not depend on the sign of , and the same prime choices apply. Here and all four 2-torsion points are rational. Hence consists exactly of .
To relate this calculation to congruent numbers, a rational point with produces the right triangle with side lengths
The identities and follow from . Conversely, a positive rational right triangle of area with legs and hypotenuse gives
Direct substitution uses and . No such point exists here. This proves the noncongruent primes congruent to three modulo eight: