Elementary trigonometric sums related to quadratic residues (Q442464)

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Elementary trigonometric sums related to quadratic residues
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    Elementary trigonometric sums related to quadratic residues (English)
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    11 August 2012
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    Let \(p\) be an odd prime number. The sums \[ T(p) = \sqrt{p} \sum_{n=1}^{(p-1)/2} \tan \frac{\pi n^2}p \] and \[ C(p) = \sqrt{p} \sum_{n=1}^{(p-1)/2} \cot \frac{\pi n^2}p \] have been investigated in detail since they are related to quadratic Gauss sums and Dirichlet's class number formulas. In particular, for primes \(p \equiv 3 \bmod 4\), the sum \(T(p)\) is, up to a trivial factor depending on \(p\) modulo \(8\), essentially \(p\) times the class number of \(\mathbb Q(\sqrt{-p}\,)\). In this article, the authors derive several elementary properties of these sums using elementary means.
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    quadratic Gauss sums
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    trigonometric sums
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    class number
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    complex quadratic number field
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    Dirichlet's class number formula
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    quadratic residues
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