Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.4 National olympiad Prove it

Theorem 2 If p1(mod4)p \equiv 1(\bmod 4) is a prime, then it can necessarily be expressed as the sum of two squares of integers.

Solution

By Lemma 2, we know that there must be integers x,y,1x<px, y, 1 \leqslant x<\sqrt{p}, 1y<p1 \leqslant|y|<\sqrt{p}, such that for a given m,pmm, p \nmid m, we have
mxy(modp)m x \equiv y(\bmod p)

In particular, taking m=am=a, where aa is defined as in Lemma 1, we have
p(axy)p \mid(a x-y)

Thus, we also have
p(axy)(ax+y)p \mid(a x-y)(a x+y)
which is \square
a2x2y20(modp)a^{2} x^{2}-y^{2} \equiv 0(\bmod p)

Define x0=x,y0=yx_{0}=x, y_{0}=|y|, the above equation shows
a2x02y020(modp)a^{2} x_{0}^{2}-y_{0}^{2} \equiv 0(\bmod p)

and \square
1x0<p,1y0<p1 \leqslant x_{0}<\sqrt{p}, 1 \leqslant y_{0}<\sqrt{p}

Substituting Lemma 1 into equation (7), we get
x02+y020(modp)x_{0}^{2}+y_{0}^{2} \equiv 0(\bmod p)

which means there is a kk such that
x02+y02=pk,x_{0}^{2}+y_{0}^{2}=p k,

But by equation (8), we know 2x02+y02<2p2 \leqslant x_{0}^{2}+y_{0}^{2}<2 p, so it must be that k=1k=1, which is exactly what we need to prove.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.