The law of quadratic reciprocity, a central result of number theory, is unusual for how many different proofs it has attracted. Like the Pythagorean theorem, it has been proved in several hundred distinct published ways, making the history of its proofs itself a subject of ongoing mathematical interest.
Facts
StatementIn number theory, the law of quadratic reciprocity is a theorem about modular arithmetic that gives conditions for the solvability of quadratic equations modulo prime numbers. 1 Sources
1. Quadratic Reciprocity (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening sentence
In number theory, the law of quadratic reciprocity is a theorem about modular arithmetic that gives conditions for the solvability of quadratic equations modulo prime numbers.
Lead section, historical note
Gauss published the first and second proofs of the law of quadratic reciprocity on arts 125-146 and 262 of Disquisitiones Arithmeticae in 1801.
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