Paper 3, Section II, I

Number Theory
Part II, 2021

State what it means for two binary quadratic forms to be equivalent, and define the class number h(d)h(d).

Let mm be a positive integer, and let ff be a binary quadratic form. Show that ff properly represents mm if and only if ff is equivalent to a binary quadratic form

mx2+bxy+cy2m x^{2}+b x y+c y^{2}

for some integers bb and cc.

Let d<0d<0 be an integer such that d0d \equiv 0 or 1mod41 \bmod 4. Show that mm is properly represented by some binary quadratic form of discriminant dd if and only if dd is a square modulo 4m4 m.

Fix a positive integer A2A \geqslant 2. Show that n2+n+An^{2}+n+A is composite for some integer nn such that 0nA20 \leqslant n \leqslant A-2 if and only if d=14Ad=1-4 A is a square modulo 4p4 p for some prime p<Ap<A.

Deduce that h(14A)=1h(1-4 A)=1 if and only if n2+n+An^{2}+n+A is prime for all n=0,1,,A2n=0,1, \ldots, A-2.