A-REMARK-ON-ZOLOTERAV’S-THEOREM.pdfVIP

A REMARK ON ZOLOTERAV’S THEOREM Hao Pan Abstract. Let n ≥ 3 be an odd integer. For any integer a prime to n, define the permutation γa,n of {1, . . . , (n − 1)/2} by γa,n (x) = n − {ax}n if {ax}n ≥ (n + 1)/2, {ax}n if {ax}n ≤ (n − 1)/2, where {x}n denotes the least nonnegative residue of x modulo n. In this note, we show that the sign of γa,n coincides with the Jacobi symbol a if n ≡ 1 (mod 4), n and 1 if n ≡ 3 (mod 4). 1. Introduction Let n ≥ 3 be an odd integer. For arbitrary x ∈ Z, let {x}n denote the least nonnegative residue of x modulo n. Then for any integer a with (a, n) = 1, define the permutation σa,n of {0, 1, . . . , n − 1} by σa,n (x) = {ax}n . In his proof of quadratic reciprocity law, Zolotarev [Zo] showed that the sign of σa,n (abbrev. as sign(σa,n )) coincides with the Jacobi symbol a if n is prime. In fact, this result, n which is now known as Zolotarev’s theorem, is also valid for composite values of n. The reader may find the proofs of Zolotarev’s theorem (for arbitrary odd integer n ≥ 3) in [DS], [Me] and [Ri]. And for the sake of completeness, we include a sketch proof as a appendix. Zolotarev’s theorem actually implies the well-known Gauss lemma: a = (−1)|S (a,n)| n where S (a, n) = {1 ≤ x ≤ (n − 1)/2 : {ax}n ≥ (n + 1)/2}. Indeed, let ′ S (a, n) = {(n + 1)/2 ≤ x ≤ n − 1 : {ax}n ≤ (n −