Computing Legendre symbols by quadratic reciprocity Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-10-31
The practical reward of quadratic reciprocity is a smaller modulus: swap a pair of distinct odd primes, record the required sign, then reduce the numerator by modular arithmetic. Use multiplicativity of the Legendre symbol and the second supplementary law for quadratic reciprocity to handle a factor of two. For example,Here are both modulo , so the first swap changes sign; gives ; the swap involving five has no sign change. An independent square check is . The method determines existence of a square root without itself finding that root.
A composite numerator is allowed in a Legendre symbol; a composite denominator instead calls for a Jacobi symbol. Its Jacobi reciprocity law supports repeated swaps and remainder reductions, in the spirit of the Euclidean algorithm.[ref]
Quadratic Reciprocity by Ben Lynn. Ben Lynn, Quadratic Reciprocity, “The Jacobi Symbol”: product definition and reciprocity for computing symbols without factoring
A final Jacobi symbol of one is not a square-existence certificate for a composite number modulus. For example,yet is impossible: reducing it modulo three would require a square congruent to two, and squares modulo three are only zero or one. The product has hidden two local failures. By contrast, for a prime denominator, a Legendre symbol of one does certify a quadratic residue.
For a fixed positive odd integer , the Legendre symbol for odd prime denominators depends only on modulo . For prime numerator , quadratic reciprocity expresses it as times a sign determined by modulo four. Factorization of and multiplicativity prove the general statement. If a denominator divides , the congruence forces the other prime denominator to be identical, so the zero cases agree too.
Jacobi reciprocity law 2026-10-14
For coprime positive odd integers , the Jacobi symbol satisfies . It follows by factoring and into primes and multiplying the quadratic reciprocity for each prime pair; the parity of the sums of prime half-differences agrees with and . A Jacobi symbol equal to one does not imply that its numerator is a quadratic residue for a composite denominator.
A short proof outline connects Gauss's lemma to counting points with integer coordinates. For distinct odd primes , define the two floor function sumsThe parity form of Gauss's lemma gives and . In the open rectangle , , the line separates points below it from points above it. None lies on the line, because and coprimality would force . The total is therefore . Combining that count with the parity identities gives quadratic reciprocity.[ref]
Quadratic Reciprocity by Ben Lynn. Ben Lynn, Quadratic Reciprocity, first theorem and proof of the Law of Quadratic Reciprocity: floor-sum parity and the separating-line count
For prescribing a factor by elliptic-curve tripling, quadratic reciprocity gives when . Choose with and choose an integer by the Chinese remainder theorem so thatThen and it is four modulo .
The curve has discriminant . At , , since otherwise would force . Also cannot vanish: squaring would give , forcing or 11, neither in the required class. At , makes , and excludes . Thus both reductions are nonsingular.
The point is on every curve in this family. Doubling it uses the invertible denominator two and givesModulo this difference vanishes, and the doubling ordinate is , so and is the identity. Modulo , taking gives , so and have distinct abscissas and their sum is a finite point.
Consequently the attempted addition computing modulo asks to invert a denominator divisible by and not by . Its numerator is nonzero modulo , since the two ordinates there are minus one and one, so this is not a removable coincidence. The Euclidean gcd used for inversion returnsa proper factor. Thus the specified elliptic-curve computation successfully factors .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 ib Paper 3 9F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A nonzero residue class is a quadratic residue if for some nonzero . If it is a square, Fermat's little theorem gives . Conversely, the map on the nonzero classes identifies exactly the pairs , giving distinct squares. They are all roots of over the field ; a polynomial of this degree has at most that many roots. Its roots are therefore precisely the squares. This proves Euler's criterionApplying it to gives . The exclusion of is the usual nonzero-residue convention needed for this equivalence.
For distinct odd primes , quadratic reciprocity statesUsing the multiplicativity of the Legendre symbol, and the supplementary law ,The first factor is because ; the second is because the reciprocity sign is positive. Thus .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 ib Paper 3 9G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The discriminant of a binary quadratic form is ; it is unchanged by a unimodular matrix change of integral variables and satisfies or . For such a , the discriminant criterion for prime representation by a binary quadratic form says that some integral binary quadratic form of discriminant of a binary quadratic form represents an odd prime exactly when is a square modulo , including zero. Equivalently,These versions agree: a square root modulo can be chosen even when and odd when , by adding if needed, and then the Chinese remainder theorem applies.
For completeness, if , then is primitive, since any common divisor would have its square divide . Complete to a basis of with determinant one using Bézout's identity. The transformed binary quadratic form has leading coefficient and discriminant of a binary quadratic form . Conversely, a suitable makes an integral binary quadratic form representing at .
For , the discriminant of a binary quadratic form is . The prime is represented. If is represented, reducing modulo gives , which also excludes . To prove sufficiency for , quadratic reciprocity givesThe criterion constructs a positive definite binary quadratic form of discriminant of a binary quadratic form . It is primitive: a common divisor of its coefficients would divide , and if that divisor were , then would divide , impossible for .
We must still establish that this form is equivalent to , rather than merely some form of the same discriminant of a binary quadratic form. In a positive definite integral binary quadratic form, replace by to arrange . If , apply and repeat. Each such exchange strictly decreases the positive integer leading coefficient, so this reduction algorithm for a positive definite binary quadratic form terminates with . Then , so . With , parity forces , giving . With , the only integral choices are , and these are not primitive. Thus every primitive positive definite binary quadratic form of discriminant of a binary quadratic form is equivalent to , and preserves its represented integers. Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 25 5 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put . Since is squarefree,We first compute the ideal class group, rather than assume the proposed extension has the full Hilbert-class-field degree.
The real quadratic Minkowski bound for ideal classes is . Thus every ideal class has an integral representative of norm at most seven. The prime two is inert because , while seven is inert because is a nonsquare. The inert ideal has norm four and is principal; a prime above seven has norm forty-nine. The only possible nonprincipal prime factors of these small representatives are therefore primes above three and five.
Reduction of gives roots modulo three and modulo five. WriteTheir conjugate pairs multiply to and . Direct norm calculations giveThe element vanishes at the residue roots modulo three and modulo five, and not at the conjugate roots. Its absolute norm forces each exponent to be one. Likewise vanishes only at the root zero modulo three, and its norm forces exponent three. ThusThese also give the factorizations suggested by the hint: and . The classes of generate the ideal class group; the first relation makes and the second makes . Hence the class number divides three.
It is not one. The algebraic integerso it is a unit. If were principal, its generator would have norm . Multiply by a suitable integer power of so thatIts conjugate then also has absolute value at most because . ThereforeThe final inequality is , immediate from the displayed value of . Thus the integer is zero, which makes impossible. ConsequentlyThis proves the ideal class group of Q of square root 229. No claim that is a fundamental unit is needed. Its norm minus one also realizes all real sign patterns after multiplication by , so the ordinary and narrow class numbers agree.
Now let and let be its splitting field. The possible rational roots are not roots, so is irreducible. Its discriminant isThus its Galois group is , since an irreducible cubic has group precisely when its discriminant is a square. Its quadratic subfield is , and is cyclic of degree three. If is one root, then .
For every rational prime , the reduction of is separable. Its roots lift in an unramified extension containing its residue splitting field, by Hensel's lemma. Hence its splitting field is unramified over at all these primes, and consequently over there.
At 229 there is exactly one double residue root and one simple root:The simple root lifts to , and division gives with monic quadratic. The discriminant-product identity isHere is a unit, since has the simple residue root. Therefore the quadratic discriminant has valuation one, and its root field is the ramified quadratic field . This is already the completion of . The local splitting field has no further extension over it: the simple root lies in and the other two lie in that quadratic field. Thus is unramified even at 229. Equivalently its rational inertia is a transposition and has trivial intersection with .
The positive cubic discriminant gives three distinct real roots, so is totally real and there is no infinite ramification over . We have exhibited an everywhere-unramified cyclic extension of degree . The Hilbert-class-field characterization in part (i) now proves
Finally let be rational prime. A prime ideal of norm is principal if and only if its Artin symbol in is trivial. If it is principal, a generator has norm ; multiplying by the norm-minus-one unit if necessary gives norm . Conversely an element of norm generates a prime ideal of norm . Hence representation by is equivalent to splitting in with trivial Artin symbol in , or to complete splitting of in .
Let be its rational Frobenius, defined up to conjugacy. Its restriction to the discriminant quadratic field is its sign. The splitting criterion for that quadratic field isFor odd this follows by quadratic reciprocity from the character of discriminant 229; for both criteria are negative since . The polynomial is separable modulo , and the degrees of its factors are the cycle lengths of . Thus a root modulo means that fixes a root. An even permutation of three letters with a fixed point is the identity: a nonidentity three-cycle has none. Therefore the two stated conditions together are exactly complete splitting in , andThis is prime representation by the norm form of Q of square root 229, with the norm sign and the prime two explicitly covered.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 31 5 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and . The ring of integers is , and the fundamental discriminant is . For a reduced positive definite binary quadratic form of discriminant , reduction givesThe coefficient is even; checking and , with the usual nonnegative sign choice at boundary equalities, leaves preciselyThe correspondence between proper quadratic forms and ideal classes therefore gives . All four classes equal their inverses, since inversion replaces by . HenceThe three nontrivial classes may be represented by the ramified prime ideals , and . They square to principal ideals and satisfy . None is principal: an integral generator of norm , or would require to equal that number, which is impossible. The relation then makes the three classes distinct, consistently with the four-form calculation.
ConsiderThe three rational square classes are independent, so . Their radical product is , so and ; the extension is abelian. To verify that it is unramified, rather than assuming that radical adjunctions are harmless at , use the conductor-discriminant formula. The seven quadratic subfields have fundamental discriminantsThe formula givesThe discriminant tower identity now givesThus the relative discriminant is the unit ideal and no finite prime ramifies. The base has no real places, so there is no infinite ramification to check. This unramified abelian degree-four extension has degree , and part (i) provesThis is the Hilbert class field of Q of square root minus thirty.
Next translate prime representation into an ideal class. For , we claimIf a representation exists, lies in and has . The integral ideal has norm , so it is a prime ideal . Its class is . Conversely, if , the product is principal, say . Since this ideal lies in , its generator has the form with integers . Taking norms gives , proving the reverse implication. This is prime representation via an ideal class, and it proves sufficiency as well as necessity.
Identify the required class in through the Artin map. We can use the explicit representation : has norm , so the prime above obtained from has class . Its Frobenius in the multiquadratic extension acts on the three radicals with signsTheir product is one, so this automorphism fixes . Because is abelian, for any unramified rational prime that splits in , the Frobenius at either prime of of norm is its rational Frobenius restricted to . The Artin isomorphism therefore makes the required class condition equivalent toConversely, these signs already imply splitting in , since their product is . No extra splitting condition is missing.
The supplementary law for , quadratic reciprocity for and , and then the Chinese remainder theorem turn these sign conditions intoTheir four simultaneous residue classes modulo are . Finally, is represented by , whereas and cannot be represented: gives a value at least , and gives twice a square. We have proved the complete criterion
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ii Paper 1 1H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For an odd prime , the Legendre symbol is zero if , one if is a nonzero square modulo , and minus one otherwise. By Gauss lemma, , where counts those least positive residues of which exceed . They correspond to integers among , henceFor , its parity is respectively , the same as that of . ThereforeUse multiplicativity and quadratic reciprocity for the requested composite numerator. Since ,The first reciprocity sign is negative because both primes are ; the subsequent signs are positive because one prime is . Thus .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ii Paper 2 1H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let generate the cyclic group of nonzero residues, whose order is a power of two. Write . Its multiplicative order is , so it is a primitive root precisely when is odd. The quadratic residues are exactly the even powers of . Thus the primitive roots are precisely the quadratic nonresidues, with nonzero residue classes understood.
For , , so quadratic reciprocity gives . Since and alternates between and modulo three, is respectively or modulo seven. The nonzero squares modulo seven are . Consequently , andThere is a genuine endpoint exception if the printed form permits : then and , which has order one and is not primitive. The first equivalence remains true for , but the final assertion requires excluding that prime.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 2 1H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the usual positive-definite convention for binary quadratic forms with negative discriminant. Reduction by integral changes of variables of determinant one produces a form with , and with on the boundary. For completeness, replacing by makes ; if then , interchange the variables, reversing one sign to keep determinant one. The new positive leading coefficient is smaller. Repeating terminates and gives a reduced form.
For discriminant , and the reduction inequalities give . Thus , is odd and , and . The boundary convention chooses . Hence there is exactly one positive-definite equivalence class, represented by .
For an odd prime represented by this form, the identity shows that is a square modulo . Here , because otherwise and would divide the represented number. Conversely, if is a square modulo , choose odd with . Then is an integral positive-definite form of discriminant . By the preceding reduction it is equivalent to the given form, so its value at is represented by that form. Quadratic reciprocity gives , whose value is one precisely for . The exceptional primes are represented: and . ThereforeWithout the positive-definite convention, the first printed assertion is false: also has discriminant but cannot be equivalent to a positive-definite form, because an invertible change of variables preserves its sign.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 3 11F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The Chinese remainder theorem says that for pairwise coprime positive moduli , the map is an isomorphism; in particular prescribed residues have a unique solution modulo the product.
Write , with and . Choose and . The Chinese remainder theorem supplies . The binomial theorem gives , since every nonconstant term is divisible by ; also . Thus , whereas . Its multiplicative order is exactly .
For odd define the Jacobi symbol , using the Legendre symbol, with . It is zero if shares a prime factor with . For example , but the square residues modulo nine are , so two is not a square.
For positive odd coprime , Jacobi reciprocity isFactor and and multiply quadratic reciprocity for each prime pair. Its sign exponent is . For odd numbers, , so this exponent has the same parity as . Multiplicativity of the Legendre symbol gives the two Jacobi products, proving the formula. If are not coprime, both sides of the displayed reciprocity equality are zero.
For the previously constructed , every prime divisor of sees residue one, so . But , because and is odd. The order- unit therefore has . This supplies a unit failing the proposed test.
Finally the passing units form the kernel of the homomorphismMultiplicativity makes this a homomorphism, and the failing unit shows its kernel is proper. A proper subgroup has index at least two. Hence the test fails on at least half the units modulo .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 2 1H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For an integral binary quadratic form with and , the reduced positive definite binary quadratic form convention is , with on either boundary or . Since , the enumeration of reduced binary quadratic forms for has . The integer is odd. For , only is retained and ; for , both give . Thus the complete list isA proper representation of a prime uses a primitive representing vector. Completing that vector to a matrix in transforms a representing form to , so its discriminant of a binary quadratic form gives . Conversely, choose an odd satisfying this congruence and put . This is integral, and is positive definite and represents at . This proves the discriminant criterion for prime representation by a binary quadratic form here.
For , quadratic reciprocity gives . Including the ramified prime, the answer is thereforeFor example supplies a proper representation of . Reduction transfers every such representation to one of the three displayed forms.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ii Paper 2 1G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For odd positive coprime integers, quadratic reciprocity for the Jacobi symbol isIf the integers are not coprime, both symbols vanish; equivalently the usual signed reciprocity identity still holds. To deduce it from quadratic reciprocity for the Legendre symbol, factor and . Multiplication of the prime reciprocity identities gives the sign exponentModulo two, each bracket is respectively and : for odd , . This proves the composite-denominator law, including repeated prime factors.
Now , and 9 contributes a square factor. Since , reciprocity and reduction of the numerator giveA second reciprocity step gives . Thus the requested Jacobi symbol is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 24 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The polynomial is Eisenstein at every prime number , so a polynomial root generates a totally ramified cubic field . The splitting-field Galois group is a transitive subgroup of , hence or . Its polynomial discriminant isThe product of the three polynomial root differences is a square root of , transformed by the sign of the polynomial root permutation. Thus the group is exactly when is a square, and otherwise it is . In the latter case the splitting field isIndeed adjoining one polynomial root leaves a quadratic factor, whose polynomial discriminant is , so the square root of supplies its remaining polynomial roots.
Suppose first that . The unit reduces to , and Hensel's lemma makes it a square exactly when is a square modulo . Quadratic reciprocity givesIf , the field generated by is already the cyclic splitting field, totally ramified of degree three. If , the nonsquare unit gives an unramified quadratic field . Since and have coprime degrees, . Its residue degree is at least two and its ramification index at least three; their product is six, so they are exactly two and three. Thus its inertia group is the normal inside .
In both cases the ramification index is three and is not divisible by . The wild inertia group is trivial, so all positive lower groups are trivial. As a different check, has valuation two in when , agreeing with tame different exponent .
For the polynomial discriminant is , which is nonsquare. Hence . The quadratic subfield can be written with . It is ramified of degree two, by the Eisenstein polynomial . Together with the totally ramified cubic field this forces to be divisible by both two and three. Since , the splitting field is totally ramified. In its normalized valuation,
All differences between distinct polynomial roots have the same valuation, since permutes the polynomial root pairs and preserves the absolute value on a field. Alsohas valuation six, so each polynomial root difference has valuation three. A nonidentity three-cycle fixes , and thereforeThe transposition fixing negates , so sends to and has displacement valuation . The other transpositions have the same value by conjugacy. The uniformizer criterion now determines every group:For the wild case the different exponent is . Independently, the cubic subfield has different exponent , and the quadratic extension is tame with exponent one. The tower formula gives , confirming the filtration. Its positive upper break is , because . This completes ramification of the splitting field of X3 plus pX plus p for every odd prime number.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 4 11G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Write and associate the symmetric matrix . Define the left group action of by ; using instead describes the same equivalence classes. The transformed matrix is , so its determinant is unchanged. Hence the discriminant of a binary quadratic formis invariant under proper equivalence of binary quadratic forms.
A proper representation here means with . Such a vector extends to the first column of an integer determinant-one matrix by Bezout identity. After that change of variables the form has leading coefficient , and discriminant , so its middle coefficient satisfies . Conversely, such a congruence gives the positive definite integral formwhich represents at . It is primitive: a common divisor of all three coefficients would have its square dividing the squarefree discriminant 35.
For clarity, enumerate all the proper equivalence classes at this discriminant. Substitutions first arrange ; if , the determinant-one substitution makes the leading coefficient smaller. Repeating terminates because this coefficient is a positive integer. Thus every class has a reduced representative with . From it follows that , giving . Checking , with odd, yieldsThe two signs in the first pair are equivalent by replacing with , and in the second pair by the determinant-one swap. Thus the two forms in the question exhaust the classes.
The primitive representation criterion at discriminant minus thirty-five now follows. For odd prime to 35, the congruence modulo is solvable exactly when is a square modulo every prime divisor of . Necessity is immediate. For sufficiency, a nonzero root modulo each odd prime lifts to all required prime powers because its derivative is invertible; combine the lifts by the Chinese remainder theorem, also imposing . This gives the modulus-four condition since . We concludeBy quadratic reciprocity, the symbol equals . In particular each prime divisor must be a quadratic residue at both 5 and 7, or a nonresidue at both. The condition is on each prime divisor, not merely on the product Jacobi symbol of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ii Paper 4 11I i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For odd coprime positive integers and , define the Jacobi symbol by multiplying Legendre symbols over the prime factorization of the denominator. Multiplicativity in the numerator givesBy quadratic reciprocity for the Legendre symbol, this is , where and . For odd , , since is even. Thus and . We obtainIf are not coprime, both symbols are zero and the equivalent identity still holds. The convention handles denominator one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 28 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Herbrand quotient and local norm indices. Let have order . For an additive -module , put and . The relevant Tate cohomology of a cyclic group groups areIf both groups are finite, their size ratio is the Herbrand quotientMultiplicative modules use products for and . A finite module has quotient one: , while , and the two cohomology orders are equal. The six-term periodic cohomology sequence shows for a short exact sequence when these groups are finite. Thus the quotient is unchanged by finite-index changes of lattices. For the trivial -module , the zeroth group is and the negative first group is zero, so .
Now let be a cyclic extension of p-adic fields of degree . For a sufficiently deep principal unit subgroup , the p-adic logarithm is a -equivariant isomorphism with the additive p-adic lattice ; it suffices to take . The normal basis theorem makes a regular -module. Consequently , as a -lattice, is commensurable with a direct sum of copies of . These regular lattices have zero Tate groups: its invariants are the multiples of the sum of the basis elements, every such element is a norm, and vectors with coefficient sum zero are images of . Commensurability and the finite-module calculation give . Since is finite, . These comparisons also establish finiteness of the Tate groups concerned.
The valuation exact sequence now gives . Hilbert theorem 90 makes trivial. One can prove the cyclic statement directly: for of norm one set , and choose for which . Such a exists by linear independence of distinct field automorphisms. Then , so is a coboundary. Therefore the local cyclic norm index isThis is the central use of the Herbrand quotient: it calculates a norm index without first constructing the local reciprocity map.
Let be the ramification index and residue degree. With normalized integer valuations, . A norm is a unit exactly when its preimage is a unit, and the norm valuations fill . Hence there is an exact sequenceThe unit norm index is . In an unramified extension all units are norms and the obstruction is the valuation modulo ; in a totally ramified cyclic extension the entire index comes from units. The norm subgroup is open: on deep principal units, logarithm carries the norm to the field trace, and the trace of a full p-adic lattice contains a sufficiently deep p-adic lattice in .
Hilbert norm residue symbol and the local-to-global principle. More generally, for a local field containing , fix the local reciprocity map with uniformizers acting as arithmetic Frobenius on unramified extensions. The Hilbert norm residue symbol isThis is independent of the chosen root, is bilinear, and has value one exactly when is a norm from . These are standard consequences of Local Artin reciprocity. The case , for which the values are signs, is the one directly governing quadratic forms. The quadratic Hilbert symbol at a place is defined for bywith value one for all when is a square. Equivalently it is one precisely when has a nonzero solution over . For nonsquare , a solution has and gives ; the converse follows from the same norm identity. When is square the conic is already isotropic. Symmetry follows from this conic criterion. The local cyclic norm index gives a norm subgroup of index two; its sign character is multiplicative in , and symmetry gives multiplicativity in . Thus the symbol is a nondegenerate bilinear pairing on the square-class group of a field, since every nonsquare gives a nontrivial norm character. Also , because , and .
For an odd-residue-characteristic p-adic field with residue size , write , , and let be the quadratic character of the residue units. ThenThe unramified quadratic extension has every unit as a norm and only even norm valuations; in a ramified quadratic extension the norm of a unit has square residue. The preceding unit norm index is two, so the square-residue condition in the ramified case is also sufficient. These facts, together with , determine the formula on the generators of the square-class group. At a real place the symbol is negative exactly when both arguments are negative, and at a complex place it is always one. For , with odd units, the dyadic formula isOnly residue classes modulo eight and the parities of enter; other dyadic fields retain the norm definition.
The Hilbert reciprocity law states for . Only finitely many factors can be nontrivial: outside the places above two, the Archimedean places, and the finite places where or is not a unit, the odd-residue formula gives one. For this product formula is a formulation of quadratic reciprocity, including its supplementary laws. It forces local norm obstructions to occur with compatible parity. It is a necessary compatibility law, not by itself a substitute for the following local-to-global theorem.
The Hasse-Minkowski theorem states that a nondegenerate quadratic form over a number field has a nonzero isotropic vector if and only if it does over every completion. Equivalently, two nondegenerate quadratic forms are isometric globally if and only if they are isometric at every place. The forward directions are immediate; the reverse directions are the substantive global theorem. Over non-Archimedean completions, local isometry classes are determined by dimension, determinant square class and the Hasse invariant of a quadratic formAt real places one uses signature, and at complex places dimension suffices. Reciprocity gives for a globally diagonalized form. These invariants make the theorem practically usable: local square classes and norm characters replace an unrestricted search for rational solutions. In particular every quadratic form of dimension at least five over a p-adic field is isotropic; for such a form over a number field the only isotropy obstructions are definite signatures at real places.
As a concrete application, take nonsquare . Then is a global norm from if and only if at every place. The local conditions make the ternary form isotropic everywhere. Hasse-Minkowski theorem gives a global solution of ; since is nonsquare, cannot be zero, and division by gives the global norm. For example fails to be a norm from already at the real place. Thus the quadratic Hilbert symbol detects local norm solvability, while the Hasse-Minkowski theorem turns solvability at all places into a global quadratic solution. The reciprocity and local-to-global theorems in this essay are stated as standard results; the norm interpretation, bilinearity and application are derived above.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 10G c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Both forms have discriminant of a binary quadratic form . The reduction algorithm for a positive definite binary quadratic form gives and for a reduced positive definite representative. Enumerating givesThe second and fourth forms are imprimitive and represent only even integers. Every odd prime represented by a form of discriminant of a binary quadratic form must therefore be represented by or .
For a prime , quadratic reciprocity givesEvery prime has this symbol equal to one and hence is represented by one of the two primitive forms, by part (b). But an odd prime represented by and different from three is , so these primes must be represented by . Similarly, primes have both symbols equal to , and are represented by , since a prime represented by is . Both residue classes are coprime to 15, so Dirichlet theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions proves each form represents infinitely many primes.
