On a determination of certain real quadratic fields of class number two (Q584314): Difference between revisions

The author uses the Siegel-Tatuzawa theorem to determine, with one possible exception remaining, all real quadratic fields \(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d})\) (with \(d\) square-free of the form \(m^2+1\) or \(m^2+4)\) with class number 2. However the author's Proposition 1 and Lemma 1 are very special cases of well-known results of Hasse. Lemmas 3, 4 and the resulting Theorem 1 as well as Lemmas \(3'\), \(4'\) and the resulting Theorem \(1'\) are special cases of a well-known theorem from continued fraction theory. Thus, the essence of the paper is the use of the Siegel-Tatuzawa theorem and a classical analytic class number formula to get an upper bound on the regulator (beyond which the aforementioned theorem gives the result, with one possible exceptional value). The reviewer (and H. C. Williams) have since determined all real quadratic fields \(\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{d})\) of class number 2, with one possible exception, whenever \(\omega_d=(1+\sqrt{d})/2\) if \(d\equiv 1\pmod 4\), respectively \(\omega_d=\sqrt{d}\) if \(d\equiv 2,3\pmod 4\), have continued fraction period length less than 25. Note that in the paper under review the forms have \(\omega_d\) of continued fraction period length less than 4.