A q-analog of Jacobi's two squares formula and its applications

Abstract: We consider a

q

-analog

r_{2} (n, q)

of the number of representations of an integer as a sum of two squares

r_{2} (n)

. This

q

-analog is generated by the expansion of a product that was studied by Kronecker and Jordan. We generalize Jacobi's two squares formula from

r_{2} (n)

to

r_{2} (n, q)

. We characterize the signs in the coefficients of

r_{2} (n, q)

using the prime factors of

n

. We use

r_{2} (n, q)

to characterize the integers which are the length of the hypotenuse of a primitive Pythagorean triangle.

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