From Sex to Quadratic Forms

Simon Norton ()
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Simon Norton: University of Cambridge, Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics

A chapter in An Invitation to Mathematics, 2011, pp 21-41 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract We start with an elementary problem and successively generalize it to reach an important area of mathematics, the theory of quadratic forms. Furthermore we describe a way of calculating the number of essentially different quadratic forms of any discriminant, the class number; this is a concept of great importance, which for example figured in early attempts to prove Fermat’s Last Theorem.

Keywords: Quadratic Form; Side Length; Sign Pattern; Hexagonal Lattice; Class Number (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-642-19533-4_3

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-19533-4_3

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