QUADRATIC RECIPROCITY

JORDAN SCHETTLER

Abstract. The goals of this project are to have the reader(s) gain an appreciation for the
usefulness of Legendre symbols and ultimately recreate Eisenstein’s slick proof of Gauss’s
Theorema Aureum of quadratic reciprocity.
1. Quadratic Residues and Legendre Symbols
Definition 0.1. Let m, n ∈ Z with (m, n) = 1 (recall: the gcd (m, n) is the nonnegative
generator of the ideal mZ + nZ). Then m is called a quadratic residue mod n if m ≡ x2
(mod n) for some x ∈ Z, and m is called a quadratic nonresidue mod n otherwise.
Prove the following remark by considering the kernel and image of the map x 7→ x2 on
the group of units (Z/nZ)× = {m + nZ : (m, n) = 1}.
Remark 1. For 2 < n ∈ N the set {m + nZ : m is a quadratic residue mod n} is a subgroup
of the group of units of order ≤ ϕ(n)/2 where ϕ(n) = #(Z/nZ)× is the Euler totient function.
If n = p is an odd prime, then the order of this group is equal to ϕ(p)/2 = (p − 1)/2, so the
equivalence classes of all quadratic nonresidues form a coset of this group.
Definition 1.1. Let p be an odd prime and let n ∈ Z. The Legendre symbol (n/p) is
defined as 
   1 if n is a quadratic residue mod p
n
= −1 if n is a quadratic nonresidue mod p
p  0 if p|n.
The law of quadratic reciprocity (the main theorem in this project) gives a precise relation-
ship between the “reciprocal” Legendre symbols (p/q) and (q/p) where p, q are distinct odd
primes. We’ll prove quadratic reciprocity in section 2, and we’ll see applications thereof to
Diophantine equations and computations of Legendre symbols in section 3. In the meantime,
use remark 1 to establish the following proposition.
Proposition 2. Let p be an odd prime and let m, n ∈ Z. Then
    
mn m n
(1.1) =
p p p
and
   
m n
(1.2) m ≡ n (mod p) ⇒ = .
p p
Show the following lemma by recalling that an element of a finite group has order dividing
the size of the group.
Lemma 3 (Fermat’s Little Theorem). Let p be an odd prime and let n ∈ Z with (n, p) = 1.
Then
(1.3) np−1 ≡ 1 (mod p).
1
2 JORDAN SCHETTLER

Now apply lemma 3 to get the proceeding fundamental result about Legendre symbols
(Hint: factor np−1 − 1 = (n(p−1)/2 − 1)(n(p−1)/2 + 1) and use the fact that the group of units
of a finite field is cyclic).
Theorem 4 (Euler’s Criterion). Let p be an odd prime and let n ∈ Z with (n, p) = 1. Then
 
n
(1.4) ≡ n(p−1)/2 (mod p).
p
Next, plug in n = −1 into theorem 4 to get the following immediate consequence.
Corollary 5. Let p be an odd prime. Then
 
−1
(1.5) = (−1)(p−1)/2 .
p
2. Quadratic Reciprocity
Flesh out the sketch of the proof for the crucial lemma which follows where for x ∈ R we
take bxc := max{n ∈ Z : n ≤ x}.
Lemma 6 (Eisenstein). Let p be an odd prime and let n ∈ Z with (n, p) = 1. Then
 
n
(2.1) = (−1)s
p
where
(p−1)/2 
X 2kn 
s= .
k=1
p

Sketch. For each k ∈ {1, . . . , (p − 1)/2} define

   
2kn 2kn
rk := 2kn − p ≡ (mod 2).
p p
Then

(p−1)/2
(p−1)/2
Y (p−1)/2
Y Pk rk (p−1)/2
Y
n (2k) ≡ rk = (−1) [(−1)rk rk ]
k=1 k=1 k=1

P k rk
(p−1)/2
Y
≡ (−1) (2k) (mod p),
k=1
so by theorem 4 we get
 
n P
≡ n(p−1)/2 ≡ (−1) k rk = (−1)s (mod p).
p

Deduce the following corollary which is traditionally established with a result called
Gauss’s lemma.
Corollary 7. Let p be an odd prime. Then
 
2 2
(2.2) = (−1)(p −1)/8 .
p
 QUADRATIC RECIPROCITY 3

Proof. Note that

(p−1)/2  
X 4k jpk jpk
= #{k ∈ N : p/4 < k ≤ p/2} = − ,
k=1
p 2 4
so if p = 8m ± 1, then
(p−1)/2 
X 4k  p2 − 1
= b4m ± 1/2c − b2m ± 1/4c = 2m ≡ 0 ≡ (mod 2),
k=1
p 8
and if p = 8m ± 3, then
(p−1)/2 
X 4k  p2 − 1
= b4m ± 3/2c − b2m ± 3/4c = 2m ± 1 ≡ 1 ≡ (mod 2).
k=1
p 8

Finally, fill in the details of the following proof (originally suggested by Eisenstein) of the
quadratic reciprocity theorem (originally proved by Gauss).
Theorem 8 (Quadratic Reciprocity). Let p, q be distinct odd primes. Then
  
p q
(2.3) = (−1)[(p−1)/2][(q−1)/2] .
q p
Sketch. Consider the following diagram in the (x, y)-plane.

Let µ be the number of lattice points (i.e., points in the plane with integer coefficients) in
the interior of the triangle EF G. Note that number of lattice points with odd x-coordinates
4 JORDAN SCHETTLER

in EF G is equal to the number of lattice points with even x-coordinates in BCE, which has
the same parity as the number of lattice points with even x-coordinates in CEGH. Hence
µ ≡ #{P : P is a lattice point in CF H and has even x-coordinate} (mod 2),
but for each positive integer m < p, the number of lattice points in CF H with x-coordinate
m is bmq/pc, so
(p−1)/2 
X 2kq 
µ≡ (mod 2).
k=1
p
Therefore lemma 6 now implies  
q
= (−1)µ .
p
A symmetric argument shows that
 
p
= (−1)ν
q
where ν is the number of lattice points in DEF . Thus the statement follows from the
observation
p−1 q−1
µ + ν = #{P : P is a lattice point in DEGF } = · .
2 2


3. Examples and Applications

Remark 9. For a fixed odd prime p, we can reasonably obtain the quadratic residues mod p
by simply squaring the integers 1, . . . , (p − 1)/2 and reducing modulo p. On the other hand,
the inverse problem of determining those primes p for which a fixed integer n is a quadratic
residue mod p requires reciprocity as the next example illustrates.
Example 10. To determine all odd primes p for which 5 is a quadratic residue mod p we
note that   
p 5
= (−1)[(p−1)/2][(5−1)/2] = 1,
5 p
so (5/p) = 1 ⇔ (p/5) = 1 ⇔ p ≡ ±1 (mod 5).
Exercise 11. Determine all odd primes p for which n = 3 is a quadratic residue mod p. Do
the same for n = 7 and n = 6.
The reciprocity law can also be utilized to compute Legendre symbols with “large” argu-
ments as seen in the following example.
Example 12. Suppose we wanted to compute (21/53). We could start squaring the integers
1, . . . , 26 and reducing modulo 53, but this would be laborious. It’s easier to accomplish this
by repeated applications of theorem 8 and proposition 2; e.g.,
           
21 3 7 53 1·26 53 3·26 2 4
= = (−1) (−1) =
53 53 53 3 7 3 7
 2
2 2
= (−1) = (−1)(−1)(7 −1)/4 = (−1)(−1)12 = −1.
7
 QUADRATIC RECIPROCITY 5

Exercise 13. Use the techniques of the above example to compute (143/409).
Another use of quadratic reciprocity includes (as one would expect) finding integer solu-
tions to degree two polynomial equations. Prove the next lemma, which follows easily from
the reciprocity law.
Lemma 14. Let p, q be distinct odd primes with p ≡ 3 ≡ q (mod 4). Then the equation
(3.1) x2 − qy 2 = p
has no solutions in integers x, y.
We can in turn apply this lemma along with a little algebraic number theory to deduce
the following theorem. Read the outline of the proof and try to justify the tools used.
Theorem 15. Let p be a prime. Then p ≡ 1 (mod 12) if and only if the equation
(3.2) x2 − 3y 2 = p
has a solution in integers x, y.
Proof. (⇐) If equation 3.2 has integer solutions, then p ≡ 1 (mod 4) by the contrapositive
of lemma 14, but also p ≡ 1 (mod 3) since p is a quadratic residue mod 3, whence (3, 4) = 1
implies p ≡ 1 (mod 12) as needed.
(⇒) Now suppose p ≡ 1 (mod 12). Then 3 is a quadratic residue modulo p by exercise
11, so there are integers m, n such that
√ √
mp = n2 − 3 = (n − 3)(n + 3).
√ √ √ √
Thus√ p divides the product (n − 3)(n + 3) √ in the ring Z[ 3], but p does not divide n ± 3
in √Z[ 3], so p√is not a prime element in Z[ 3]. Hence p is not an irreducible √ element√in
Z[ 3] since Z[√ 3] is a UFD, so there are x, y, s, t ∈ Z such that neither x + y 3 nor s + t 3
is a unit in Z[ 3] with √ √
p = (x + y 3)(s + t 3).
√ √
Moreover, the norm map N : Z[ 3] → Z given by a + b 3 7→ a2 − 3b2 is multiplicative, so
p2 = N (p) = (x2 − 3y 2 )(s2 − 3t2 ),
but this implies x2 − 3y 2 = ±p since units have norm ±1 and p is a prime in Z. Therefore
p = x2 − 3y 2 since otherwise p = 3y 2 − x2 ≡ −1 (mod 3), which is a contradiction.

References
[1] Pete L. Clark, Instructor’s Name. “Quadratic Reciproctity I.” Course notes. Math 4400/6400
– Number Theory. Course home page. Department of Mathematics, University of Georgia.
http://math.uga.edu/∼pete/4400qrlaw.pdf.
[2] Kenneth Ireland and Michael Rosen, A Classical Introduction to Modern Number Theory, 2th ed.,
Springer, 2000.
[3] Reinhard C. Laubenbacher and David J. Pengelley, Eisenstein’s Misunderstood Geometric Proof of the
Quadratic Reciprocity Theorem, The College Mathematics Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1, (Jan., 1994), pp. 29-34.