Exercise 5.35

Use the preceding exercise to show that 3 is a square modulo p iff p is congruent to 1 or 1 modulo 12 .

Answers

Proof. We know from Ex. 5.34 that ν = Card { j [ 1 , ( p 1 ) 2 ] | p 2 3 j < p } = μ . Therefore ν is the number of j such that p 6 j < p 3 , so ν = p 3 p 6 .

If p = 12 k + 1 , ν = p 3 p 6 = 4 k 2 k = 2 k : ( 3 p ) = ( 1 ) ν = 1 .

If p = 12 k + 5 , ν = p 3 p 6 = 4 k + 1 2 k = 2 k + 1 : ( 3 p ) = ( 1 ) ν = 1 .

If p = 12 k 5 , ν = p 3 p 6 = 4 k 2 ( 2 k 1 ) = 2 k 1 : ( 3 p ) = ( 1 ) ν = 1 .

If p = 12 k 1 , ν = p 3 p 6 = 4 k 1 ( 2 k 1 ) = 2 k : ( 3 p ) = ( 1 ) ν = 1 .

Therefore 3 is a square modulo p (where p 2 , p 3 ) iff p is congruent to 1 or 1 modulo 12 . □

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2022-07-19 00:00
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