Saturday, 5 September 2026

Exercise (8.1).22

(i) Prove the following: A prime $p$ satisfying $p \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ can be written uniquely as the sum of two squares.

(ii) Prove Theorem (8.4).


(i) We know from Theorem (8.3) that a prime $p$ satisfying $p \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ can be written as the sum of two squares.

For the purpose of contradiction, let's assume $p$ can be written as a sum of two squares in two different ways.

$$ p = a^2 + b^2 = c^2 + d^2 $$

where $a, b, c, d$ are distinct, and all greater than 0, otherwise $p$ would not be prime.

The Conversion Identity (8.1), and question 12, gives us

$$ p^2 = (a^2 + b^2) (c^2 + d^2) = (ac− bd)^2 + (ad + bc)^2  = (ac+bd)^2 + (ad - bc)^2 $$


Now $p - a^2 = b^2$ and $p-c^2=d^2$, and so

$$ (p-a^2)d^2 = b^2d^2 = (p-c^2)b^2  $$

which gives us

$$ p(d^2-b^2) = a^2d^2 -b^2c^2 = (ad-bc)(ad+bc) \tag{i}$$

This means

$$ p \mid (ad-bc) \quad \lor \quad p \mid (ad+bc) $$

and so

$$ p^2 \mid (ad-bc)^2 \quad \lor \quad p^2 \mid (ad+bc)^2 $$

or for some integers $m,n$

$$ p^2m = (ad-bc)^2 \quad \lor \quad p^2 n = (ad+bc)^2 $$

Let's consider each case in turn.


Case $ p^2m = (ad-bc)^2$

From the conversion identities,

$$ p^2(1-m) = (ac+bd)^2 $$

Because $a,b,c,d$ are all greater than 0, this means $m=0$. And so $(ad-bc)^2=0$, that is, $ad-bc = 0$. Using this in (i) gives us $d^2-b^2 = 0$, that is $d=b$. Using $a^2+b^2 = c^2 + d^2$ with $d=b$ gives $a=c$. So we have

$$ a=c, \quad b=d $$


Case $ p^2 n = (ad+bc)^2$

From the conversion identitues,

$$ p^2(1-n) =  (ac− bd)^2 $$

Here $n$ could be 1 or 0. But $n\ne0$, because that would mean $p^2 = (ac− bd)^2$ and from the conversion identities, that would mean $(ad + bc)^2=0$, a contradiction. And so $n=1$, which means $(ac-bd)^2=0$, that is $ac-bd=0$. 

From $p-a^2=b^2$ and $p-d^2=c^2$, we have $(p-a^2)c^2=b^2c^2=(p-d^2)b^2$, which gives us

$$ p(c^2-b^2) = a^2c^2 - d^2b^2 = (ac-bd)(ac+bd) $$

Using $ac-bd=0$ with this gives $c^2-b^2=0$, that is $c=b$, which also gives us $a=d$. So we have

$$ a=d \quad b=c $$


Both cases lead to non-distinct sum of squares, and so we have shown that a prime $p$ satisfying $p \equiv 1 \pmod 4$ can be written uniquely as the sum of two squares.


(ii) Let's remind ourselves of Theorem (8.4):

An odd prime $p$ can be written as sum of two squares uniquely if and only if $p \equiv 1 \pmod 4$.


We have proved one direction in part (i) above. We only need to show that if a prime can be written uniquely as a sum of two squares then $p \equiv 1 \pmod 4$.

Let's write $p=a^2+b^2$ for some positive integers $a,b$. We know from Exercise (1.2).2 that the square of an integer is congruent to 0 or 1 modulo 4. 

This means $p$ is congruent to 0, 1 or 2 modulo 4. But since $p$ is an odd prime, then $p$ cannot be congruent to 0 or 2 modulo 4, leaving only 

$$ p \equiv 1 \pmod 4 $$

This concludes the proof.