Quadratic Reciprocity and the Theta Function
One of the better-known proofs of quadratic reciprocity involves the Gauss sums. This post gives a variant proof which motivates the introduction of Gauss sums using the Jacobi theta function.
Tag Archives: Gauss sum
The Philosophy of Square-Root Cancellation
In this note, I’ll discuss why square-root cancellation is so typical in problems in number theory and give a quick survey of important sums known or widely conjectured to satisfy bounds of this form.
a. w. walker 