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Congruent Numbers

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prajay thul
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mathematics of computation, volume 28, number 125, January, 1974

A Note on Congruent Numbers


By Ronald Alter and Thaddeus B. Curtz

Abstract. An integer a is called a congruent number if and only if there are positive integer
solutions to the system of equations
x2 + ay"1 = z2 and x2 - ay1 = /2.
In this note congruent numbers are discussed and a table of known square-free congruent
numbers less than 1000 is exhibited.

1. Introduction. An integer a is called a congruent number if and only if there


exist positive integer solutions to the rationalized system of Diophantine equations
/«\
(1) x 2 +i ay 2 = z 2 andJ x 2 —ay 2
= t„2 .

It is easy to see that en2 is a congruent number if and only if c is a congruent


number. Thus it suffices to study only square-free congruent numbers.
The earliest reference to congruent numbers in the literature dates back to a tenth
century Arab manuscript. For a more detailed account of the early history of con-
gruent numbers, see Dickson [3, Chapter 16, pp. 459-472]. More recent references
to congruent numbers can be found in several texts. See, for example, Uspensky and
Heaslet [6] and Mordell [5]. For the most recent results on congruent numbers, see
Alter, Curtz and Kubota [1].
It is known that solving Eq. (1) is equivalent to solving the single Diophantine
equation
,»,
(2) x 4 — a 2y 4 = z 2 .
Also, every congruent number a satisfying Eq. (1) must be of the form
(3) uv(u — v2) = aw2.

There are other forms that a congruent number may take; in fact, the following
are all congruent numbers:

(4) *4 + 4/, 2x* + 2y\ x* - /.


If x and y have opposite parity, then the following are also congruent numbers:
/t-\
(5) x 4 +i 6x
^ 2 2 i
y + y4 , x 4 — 6x
*• 2 2 i
y + y4 .
In Alter, Curtz and Kubota [1], other results on congruent numbers and a list of
known results on noncongruent numbers is given.
In 1915, Gérardin [4] listed 62 square-free congruent numbers less than 1000 for
which x is less than 3722 in Eq. (1). (The list actually contains 63 numbers but one is

Received January 26, 1973.


AMS (MOS) subject classifications(1970). Primary 65A05; Secondary 10B05.
Key words and phrases. Congruent numbers, Diophantine equation.
Copyright © 1974, American Mathematical Society
303

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304 RONALD ALTER AND THADDEUS B. CURTZ

not square-free and thus is an error.) At the time he posed the problem of finding all
square-free congruent numbers less than 1000. This was followed by a note of Bastien
[2] in which he listed all square-free congruent numbers less than 100. Using new
results and a computer search based primarily on Eq. (3), Alter, Curtz and Kubota [1]
determine 334 of the 608 square-free numbers less than 1000 to be either congruent
(198 numbers) or noncongruent (136 numbers). These numbers are exhibited in
tables of congruent and noncongruent numbers.
It is the aim of this note to find new congruent numbers less than 1000. This is
done by using a computer search based on (4) and (5), in which the parameters were
taken as large as double precision would allow. A discussion of this program can
be found in [1]. In fact only 18 new congruent numbers were found, leaving 256
square-free numbers less than 1000 that are still undetermined.
A complete list of known (square-free) congruent numbers less than 1000 is
contained below in Table 1.

Table 1
Square-Free Congruent Numbers < 1000

These new congruent numbers further strengthen the following conjecture which
also appears in [1].
Conjecture. Ifn= 5,6 or 1 (mod 8) then n is a congruent number.
The first three such n still unsettled are 103, 127, 133.
Although this note deals primarily with congruent numbers, our previously
published list of known noncongruent numbers is repeated here for the convenience
of the reader. For more information about Table 2, the reader is again referred to [1].

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A NOTE ON CONGRUENT NUMBERS

Table 2
Noncongruent Numbers < 1000

The author would like to thank R. Waldner for programming assistance.

Department of Computer Science


University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky 40506

1. R. Alter, T. B. Curtz & K. K. Kubota, Remarks and Results on Congruent Num-


bers, Proc. Third Southeastern Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory and Computing,
1972,pp. 27-35.
2. L. Bastien, "Nombres congruents," Intermédiare des Math., v. 22, 1915, pp. 231-232.
3. L. E. Dickson, History of the Theory of Numbers. Vol. II, Carnegie Institute of
Washington, 1920.
4. A. Gérardin, "Nombres congruents," Intermédiare des Math., v. 22, 1915, pp. 52-53.
5. L. J. Mordell, Diophantine Equations, Pure and Appl. Math., vol. 30, Academic
Press, New York, 1969.MR 40 #2600.
6. J. V. Uspensky & M. A. Heaslet, Elementary Number Theory, McGraw-Hill, New
York, 1939. MR 1, 38.

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