Exceptional values of the Dedekind symbol (Q1077448)

For coprime integers h and k with \(k>0\), the Dedekind symbol (h,k) is defined as \[ (h,k)=6k\sum^{k-1}_{r=1}(r/k)(hr/k-[hr/k]-). \] For \(w\equiv 0,\pm 1,\pm 3 (mod 9)\) the order of w is defined by ord w\(=\inf \{k|\) \((h,k)=w\) for some \(h\}\) ; if w does not occur as a value (h,k) then ord w\(=\infty\) and w is called an exceptional value. The author describes numerical work that strongly suggests the following conjecture: w is exceptional if and only if (i) w-1 is a square not divisible by any prime \(\equiv \pm 3 (mod 8)\) or (ii) \(w=12\), 44, 107, 152 or 172.