Saturday, 1 August 2026

Exercise (7.4).2

Evaluate parts (c) and (d) of Example 7.19.


We want to determine

$$ (-1)^{(\frac{p-1}{2}) \times (\frac{q-1}{2})} $$

(c) $p \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ and $q \equiv 3 \pmod 4$

(d) $p \equiv 3 \pmod 4$ and $q \equiv 1 \pmod 4$


(c) We write $p=4x + 1$ and $q=4y+3$ for some integers $x,y$. And so

$$ (-1)^{(\frac{p-1}{2}) \times (\frac{q-1}{2})} = (-1)^{(2x) \times (2y+1)} = 1$$

because the index is even.


(d) We write $p=4x + 3$ and $q=4y+1$ for some integers $x,y$. And so

$$ (-1)^{(\frac{p-1}{2}) \times (\frac{q-1}{2})} = (-1)^{(2x+1) \times (2y)} = 1$$

because the index is even.