22. The Quadratic Reciprocity Law.

If p and q are odd prime numbers, the reciprocal Legendre symbols are governed
by the formula
p q p"1 q"1

q  p  "1
2 2 .

This law was formulated, but not proved by Euler (Opusula analytica, Petersburg, 1783).
In 1785 Legendre discovered it (Histoire de lAcadmie des Sciences) independently of
Euler and partially proved it.

The first complete proof was given by Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) in his famous
Disquisitiones arithmeticae (1801), a book that laid the foundations of modern number
theory; this work, it five hundred quarto pages filled with profound ideas, was written when
Gauss was 20 years old. "It is really astonishing", says Kronecker, "to think that a single
man of such young years was able to produce such a wealth of results, and above all to
present such a profound and well organized treatment of an entirely new discipline".

Later in life, Gauss discovered seven other proofs of the quadratic reciprocity theorem.
(They can be found in vol. 14 of Ostwalds Klassiker des exakten Wissenshaften.)

The quadratic reciprocity law is one of the most important theorems of number theory.
Gauss call it the "Theorema fundamentale". The American mathematician Dickson said in
his Theory of Numbers that "The quadratic reciprocity law is doubtless the most important
tool in the theory of numbers and occupies the central position in its history".

The importance of this law led other mathematicians like Jacobi, Cauchy, Liousville,
Kronecker, Schering and Frobenius to investigate it after Gauss, and offer proofs of it. In is
Niedere Zahlentheorie, P. Bachmann cites no fewer than 52 proofs and discusses the most
important ones.

Probably the simplest of all the proofs is the following arithmetic-geometric proof, arising
from the combination of Gauss lemma (Gauss Werke, vol. II, p.51) and a geometric idea of
Cayley (Arthur Cayley [1821-1895], Collected Mathematical Papers, vol. II).

Gauss Lemma. Let p be an odd prime, gcda, p  1. Let n be the number of negative
p"1
least residues of ax for x  1, 2, . . . , P  2 . Then ap  "1 n .
Proof. Let ax q > x mod p where > x is the least residue of ax mod p. The > x agree, except
for sign and sequence, with the P numbers 1, 2, . . . , P. Indeed if > r  o> s , then
ar # s q 0 mod p, which however is impossible, since p 4 a and p 4 r # s . Thus on
multiplying all the P congruences ax q > x mod p together, we get
p"1
a P P! q "1 n P! mod p, and a P q "1 n mod p. However, since ap q a 2 mod p by
Theorem 4 from No. 19., we conclude that ap q "1 n mod p. Both sides of this
congruence are o1, and thus must be equal, i.e., ap  "1 n . R

Proof of the Quadratic Reciprocity Law. Let a  q, an odd prime number different from

1
p. With > x as above, let ax  g x p  > x if > x  0 and ax  g x p  > x  p if > x  0. [> x in
the first case and > x  p in the second are the conventional or common
(nonnegative) residues of ax mod p, so g x is the greatest integer in axp . ] a  q and p
are congruent to 1 mod 2, and thus x q g x  > x mod 2 if > x  0 and x q g x  > x  1 mod 2
if > x  0. Addition of these P congruences yields ! x  n  ! >x  ! gx
P P P
mod 2.
x1 x1 x1
Since n q "n mod 2, and the > x agree, except for sign and sequence, with the P
numbers 1, 2, . . . , P, we can write ! x  n q ! x  ! gx
P P P
mod 2, or

By Gauss Lemma, p  "1 ! , or

x1 x1 x1

! g x mod 2.
P
gx
nq
q

x1

 "1 !
qx
p"1
, x  1, 2, . . . , P 
q p
(I) p
2
.

 "1 !
Similarly
py
q"1
, y  1, 2, . . . , Q 
p q
(II) q
2
.

It follows that

 "1 ! !
p q
qx
p  py
q
(III) q p .

The final step is to determine ! p  ! q . This will be done geometrically.

qx py

p p q q
Consider the rectangle with vertices 0, 0 , 2 , 0 , 2 , 2 and 0, 2 bisected by
the diagonal d : y  p x :
q

(0,q/2) (p/2,q/2)

(0,0) (p/2,0)
p=19, q=11

Now consider the lattice points x, y inside this rectangle. (Lattice points are points
with integer coefficients.) No lattice point lies on the diagonal d, for otherwise wed
have x  p , which is in lowest terms. For a fixed integer x, the number of lattice
y q
q q
points in the rectangle below x, p x is p x , and the number of lattice points in the

lower half of the rectangle is !

P
qx
p . Similarly, the number of lattice points in the
x1

2
 upper half of the rectangle is !
Q
(Think of d as the line x 
py p
q . q y. )
y1

The exponent in (III) is then the number of all the lattice points inside our
rectangle, i.e., PQ. It follows that

p q
q 
p  "1 PQ

or
p q p"1 q"1

q 
p  "1 2 2 ,

finishing the proof. R

p"1 q"1
Note.
p
q  if at least one of p or q is of the form 4n  1, since then 2 2 is an
q
p
p"1 q"1
even integer, "1 2 2  1, and q  p  1. So both q and p are either 1 or
p q p q

"1. If both p and q are of the form 4n  3, then q  " p .

p q