A conjecture on Euler numbers (Q2483749): Difference between revisions

The author proves that for every prime \(p\equiv 1\pmod 4\), \[ E_{(p-1)/2}\not \equiv 0\pmod p, \] where \(E_{2n}\) are the Euler numbers defined by the Taylor series \[ \text{sec}\,x= \sum^\infty_{n=0}(-1)^nE_{2n}\frac{x^{2n}}{(2n)!} \quad \text{for }|x|<\frac{\pi}{2}. \] This congruence was known for a prime \(p\equiv 5\pmod 8\). The method of proving this congruence is to use the class number formula for the imaginary quadratic field \(\mathbb Q(\sqrt{-4p})\) and show that \[ E_{(p-1)/2}\equiv 2h(-4p)\pmod p, \] where \(h(-4p)\) denotes the class number of this field.