An elementary proof of a theorem on quadratic forms over the rational numbers (Q921035)

The author gives an excellent proof of the following Main Theorem: For \(a,b\in {\mathbb{Q}}^*\), the value set of the form \(<1,a,b,ab>\) over \({\mathbb{Q}}\) is \({\mathbb{Q}}^*_{>0}\) (positive rationals) if \(a,b>0\), and \({\mathbb{Q}}^*\) otherwise. The proof bases on elementary considerations in algebraic theory of quadratic forms (properties of isotropic forms, Euler's formula) and in number theory (quadratic residues, Möbius function). This seems to be considerably interesting, because all earlier proofs of the Main Theorem depend on more advanced theorems (e.g. the Dirichlet's theorem on primes in an arithmetic progression). Moreover, the consequences of the Main Theorem presented in the last section can be regarded as an important step in an attempt to find an elementary proof of the Hasse-Minkowski local-global principle. The paper is self- contained and clearly written.