11.2   Counting Quadratic Residues

It is easy to have Java produce a list of quadratic residues by automating the method used in the Prelab section. Specifically, the applet below computes a2 % n for each value of a satisfying gcd(a, n) = 1 and 1 <= a <= n. The resulting output contains the quadratic residues. Try it out:

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In the very near future, you will want to count the number of quadratic residues modulo a prime. You can do so using a modified version of the previous applet that includes the number of quadratic residues in the list, thus avoiding the tedium of counting them yourself.

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Research Question 1

If p is an odd prime, how many quadratic residues are there mod p?

Hint: The content of the next few sections my be helpful in proving your conjecture.


Section 11.1 | Section 11.2 | Section 11.3 | Section 11.4 | Section 11.5 | Section 11.6

Chapter 11 | DNT Table of Contents

Copyright © 2001 by W. H. Freeman and Company