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Quadratic Residues and Non-Residues: Selected Topics

Number theory as a coherent mathematical subject started with the work of Fermat in the decade from 1630 to 1640, but modern number theory, that is, the systematic and mathematically rigorous development of the subject from fundamental properties of the integers, began in 1801 with the appearance of the landmark text of Gauss, Disquisitiones Arithmeticae. A major part of the Disquisitiones deals with quadratic residues and nonresidues. Beginning with these fundamental contributions of Gauss, the study of quadratic residues and nonresidues has subsequently led directly to many of the key ideas and techniques that are used everywhere in number theory today, and the primary goal of these lectures is to use this study as a window through which to view the development of some of those ideas and techniques. In pursuit of that goal, we will employ methods from elementary, analytic, and combinatorial number theory, as well as methods from the theory of algebraic numbers.