theorem on sums of two squares by Fermat
Suppose that an odd prime number can be written as the sum
where and are integers. Then they have to be coprime. We will show that is of the form .
Since , the congruence
has a solution , whence
and thus
Consequently, the Legendre symbol is , i.e.
Therefore, we must have
(1) |
where is a positive integer.
Euler has first proved the following theorem presented byFermat and containing also the converse of the above claim.
Theorem(Thue’s lemma (http://planetmath.org/ThuesLemma)). An odd prime isuniquely expressible as sum of two squares of integers if andonly if it satisfies (1) with an integer value of .
The theorem implies easily the
Corollary. If all odd prime factors of a positiveinteger are congruent to 1 modulo 4 then the integer is a sumof two squares. (Cf. the proof of the parent article and the article“prime factors of Pythagorean hypotenuses (http://planetmath.org/primefactorsofpythagoreanhypotenuses)”.)